A Fate Worse Than Geth
by Naruana
Summary: During the time between Sovereign's attack on the Citadel and the destruction of the Normandy, Shepard undertook many missions. Some were more dangerous or bizarre than others. This is one of those missions.
1. Chapter 1

**1**

**The Proposal**

_Somewhere in the Far Rim_

_Captain's Quarter's, SSV Normandy_

The captain's quarters of the SSV Normandy SR-1 were little more than a glorified office space. In fact, Commander Shepard's quarters were smaller than those of the rest of the crew; space was sacrificed for privacy. There were little amenities to speak of, besides a stainless steel desk shoved into one corner and a port side window to view the vast blackness of space. The majority of the room was taken up by a not-quite king sized bed, the mattress of which was flat and offered no support at all. Still, it did serve its purpose, and at the moment Shepard was very glad for it.

He lay in the darkness, feeling very comfortable and content, despite the bed. The deep thrum of the ship's element zero core vibrated through the walls; a rather soothing sound. This combined with exhaustion from recent activities, and Shepard could feel himself sliding beneath waves of sleep.

"Message for you in the comm room, Commander."

Shepard groaned. Say what you will about Joker, but the man was punctual. He could ruin a pleasant moment at the drop of a hat.

"Hope I didn't interrupt anything," the pilot added, and Shepard could practically hear him smirking through the PA. Shepard smiled himself. No, Joker hadn't interrupted anything, but it was a close thing. She had only just dozed off fifteen minutes ago.

Shepard rolled onto his side, ignoring Joker's page for the moment. With one hand he lightly brushed Liara T'Soni's cheek. The asari scientist was fast asleep beside him, also exhausted from recent activities. Her naked form was pressed close to his due to space restrictions- which Shepard did not mind at all at the moment. Even in sleep Liara was stunningly beautiful- by human standards, certainly, but also in an exotic sense. Everything from her sky-blue skin, which seemed to glow softly in the dark, to the sleek tendril-like folds that crowned her head managed to make Shepard's breath catch short. She was also intelligent, charming, and kind-hearted. She could be adorably naïve and clumsy in social situations, but she became a fierce animal on the battlefield (and in the bedroom). She was, in short, perfect. Should they both survive the coming Reaper threat, Shepard fully intended to spend a lifetime with her- well, his lifetime, anyway.

"Still waiting for you in the comm room, Commander."

With a sigh Shepard rolled onto his feet, stretching his tired muscles. The last thing he wanted to do right now was deal with some Alliance brass or alien politician who was still pissed off about the council's demise during the battle of the Citadel. Still, he also didn't want Joker sending some cadet up here to make sure Shepard was still alive. So he dressed quickly but quietly in the dark, not wanting to wake Liara. He paused at the door for one final glance at his blue angel, and then exited the room, leaving Liara to sleep peacefully.

* * * *

Liara was not sleeping peacefully. Truth be told, and although pride would never allow her to admit it during her waking hours, Liara was having a nightmare. Due to their highly advanced mental and near-psychic abilities, asari dreams are so incredibly vivid that, to any other species, they would be indistinguishable from reality. Unfortunately, that also applies to nightmares, and this one was particularly bad.

Liara could not see. She could not move, or breathe, or even think. She was cocooned in darkness so thick it seemed almost tangible. Every fiber in her body was charged with a fear so great it drowned any rational thought. Never before had she felt such terror; if she experienced it in real life it would probably drive her to insanity.

The darkness began to shift. It moved like a living fluid, slithering around her. A piece of it separated from the rest in front of her and began to take form. She sensed rather than saw its shining black skin, elongated head, and barbed tail. Thick ropy strands of saliva hung from its mouth as lips peeled back to reveal razor-sharp teeth, shining like silver in moonlight. The monster approached her. Liara tried to run but still could not move a muscle. The thing's jaws opened, only to reveal a second set of silver teeth. They slowly extended from the recesses of its mouth on a veined rod, so close she felt it brush her face. With its hands the monster clutched her arms, claws digging deep into her flesh, and finally Liara gained some control- she opened her mouth and screamed.

The scream followed her into reality as she forced herself awake. She bolted upright in the bed, hands clutched to her breast where she seemed able to feel a lingering pain. Liara cut the scream short before it could draw attention. Instead she squeezed her eyes shut and began to sob quietly, purging herself of the nightmare. Never before had she experienced one so horrifying or so real. As a child she had dealt with her share of monsters created by the imagination, but nothing like this. This one was different. All of it was terrifying, from the teeth to the claws. But the one detail that disturbed her so was one she didn't realize until later: the creature had had no eyes.

* * * *

Shepard climbed the curved staircase to the command deck. The bridge was nearly deserted, with only a skeleton crew at various posts. Their faces were orange from the glow of the holographic displays where they monitored the ship's various data. The CO's station was illuminated by the pale light of the galaxy map that floated in the center of the room. Shepard proceeded toward the stern of the ship and into the comm room. He stood expectantly in front of the projectors, which were dark at the moment.

Joker came over the PA. "Hang on sec, Commander. Patching it through."

One of the projectors sparkled to life with a beam of orange light. It swirled about itself, millions of points of light forming into an image of whoever was at the other end of the line. "Whoever" turned out to be a human- a thin man with a gaunt face, deep sunken eyes, and a high brow.

"Commander Shepard," the man spoke in hoarse tones. "It's an honor to meet the savior of humanity."

The flattery glanced off Shepard like a pebble off a ship's hull. "Save it, whoever you are. I hope you have a good reason for waking me." Rude, maybe, but Shepard hadn't defeated Sovereign and the geth by saying "please" and "thank you."

The man seemed amused. The projection jittered as he chuckled softly. "Of course, Commander," he said. "I know you're a busy man. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Karl Bishop Weyland."

This revelation had a slightly larger impact on Shepard, although he did his best not to show it. Karl Bishop Weyland was chief director of Weyland-Yutani Industries, one of if not _the_ largest human mega corporation in the galaxy. He was also, as the name implied, a direct descendent of Charles Bishop Weyland, co-founder of Weyland-Yutani.

"I assume you've heard of me?" Weyland added hopefully.

Shepard shrugged. "The name rings a bell," he said casually. "Weyland-Yutani, right? The mega-corp.?"

Weyland nodded enthusiastically. "That's right, Commander. As I'm sure you know, Weyland-Yutani Industries is the largest human corporation in the galaxy. We produce everything from personal data pads to massive atmosphere converters for terraforming. We also fund and control nearly all of the human colonies in the galaxy."

Shepard squinted at the hologram in mock-puzzlement. "I thought ExoGeni currently held that title?"

Weyland coughed, clearing his throat. "That's what the competition would like you to think," he said with a trace of irritability. "But the truth is no one comes close to Weyland-Yutani in any area."

"That's all very impressive, Mr. Weyland," Shepard said in a bored tone, "But I hope you called for more than just an advertisement. I'm not doing any endorsements."

"Of course not, Commander. Our business is much more serious than economics." Off-screen Weyland manipulated some controls, and his image was replaced with that of a cruiser. Shepard recognized it as a _Conestoga-_class Alliance ship, an outdated model once used by the Colonial Marine Corps. It looked, for all intents and purposes, like a massive assault rifle. A forest of antennae and comm towers sprouted from the helm like needles.

"You're looking at the _USS Sulaco_," Weyland informed him. "Twenty years ago it was a top-of-the-line ship: kinetic rail guns, nuclear orbital warheads, MW point-defense lasers; all of it powered by a Westingland A-59 Lithium-Hydride Fusion Reactor."

"Impressive piece of hardware," Shepard commented.

Weyland reappeared in the projection. "Two decades ago it was, yes," he said, nodding. "But now it's nothing more than a derelict drifting through the Terminus Systems."

"What happened?"

"Glad you asked, Commander." Weyland brought up another image, this one of a small moon. "The _Sulaco_ was sent to investigate a communications failure at Hadley's Hope, a Weyland-Yutani colony located here on the planetoid of Acheron LV-426."

"And?"

Weyland shrugged. "What happened there is a mystery. Once the _Sulaco_ reached Acheron, no further transmissions were received. A second ship sent to investigate found the _Sulaco_ missing and Hadley's Hope reduced to so much rubble and wasteland- decimated by a nuclear meltdown, apparently. A decade later, with still no sign of the ship or its crew, the _Sulaco_ was assumed lost forever."

"Until now." Shepard was certain Weyland knew more than he was telling, but didn't pursue the issue yet.

"Until now," Weyland agreed. "A turian salvage freighter bumped into it deep within Terminus space. They were compensated for their discovery, but not allowed to bring it in. That's what I contacted you for, Commander."

The Commander crossed his arms. "I'm not an errand boy and the Normandy isn't a salvage ship," he said irritably. "I'm a Spectre in charge of an Alliance frigate. I have more important things to do than pick up your trash."

Weyland's temper broke, if only for a moment. "There's more to this than recovering metal scraps, Shepard!" he said, his projection reappearing. "Something happened on Acheron that resulted in the total loss of a Weyland-Yutani colony, as well as the disappearance of an entire platoon of Colonial Marines. That ship may be our only chance to find out what went wrong."

Shepard fixed Weyland with his steeliest glare. He didn't appreciate being shouted at in his own ship; he had gotten enough of that from the council. Weyland, however, didn't drop his gaze; he fully met Shepard's eyes. After a tense moment both men regained some semblance of composure.

"Why me?" Shepard asked, not quite snapping. "Why not a salvage crew?"

Weyland sighed, wearily rubbing his eyes. All of a sudden he looked very old and tired. "The turians picked up no life signs from the _Sulaco_," he said. "That means everyone involved with Hadley's Hope and the _Sulaco_ is probably dead. There's an element of danger here that salvage crews are not prepared for."

He was right, Shepard knew. Colonial Marines were one of the most intimidating forces in the galaxy. It would take a hell of a lot to wipe out an entire platoon.

"I can promise you adequate compensation," Weyland added.

Shepard waved away the offer. "Forget it," he said. "This one's for free. I'll find out what happened to your colony."

"Excellent!" Weyland said, a smile breaking across his face. "I'll send the _Sulaco's_ coordinates to your pilot."

"Fine," Shepard nodded. "But just remember- I don't work for you. I don't answer to you. If this turns out to be too dangerous, I'm pulling out. I won't risk my crew for a multi-billion credit corporation."

Weyland nodded, his smile replaced with grim determination. "Understood, Commander. And good luck."

With that he signed off.


	2. Chapter 2

**2**

**The Derelict, Part 1**

_Omega Nebula, Terminus Systems_

_The Bridge, SSV Normandy_

The psychedelic light display visible through the bridge's viewports collapsed as the _Normandy_ came out of FTL travel, replaced by the inky, star-studded void of space. Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau remained un-fazed by the awe-inspiring view. He had seen it all before.

"Nothing new in the galaxy," he muttered as he powered down the _Normandy's_ drive core. Joker cracked his knuckles, a rather dangerous move considering his brittle bones, and began manipulating the holographic display before him. Using the electronic sensors sewn into his gauntlets, Joker could interact with the ship's systems as artfully as a maestro. He brought up the _Normandy's_ current coordinates, then the ones sent by Weyland-Yutani. If they were accurate, then the lost Alliance ship should be around here somewhere.

Joker still couldn't believe the Commander had agreed to this mission. He trusted Shepard's judgment completely, but Weyland-Yutani was universally known as one of the most corrupt corporations in the galaxy. Employees hardly ever called it by name, referring to it instead by the ominous moniker of "The Company." It made Weyland- Yutani sound like a shadowy, omniscient overlord. If half the stories Joker had heard were true, then that wasn't far from the truth. He fully expected to be screwed over before the job was through; he also looked forward to witnessing the royal beat-down the Commander would bring to Weyland-Yutani when they were.

At that moment Commander Shepard entered the cockpit, as though summoned by Joker's thoughts. "How're we doing?"

Joker shrugged. "Heat sink's been acting up, I'm getting a rash from this chair, and Wrex backed up all the toilets again. Other than that, ok."

Shepard stared down at him, his forehead a landscape of worry-lines (many of which Joker was proud to be responsible for). "I meant, how're we doing with the mission? Any sign of the _Sulaco_?"

"Oh, _that!_" Joker widened his eyes in mock-understanding. "Yeah, this ship aint' here."

Shepard leaned forward to examine the displays, frowning. "You're certain these coordinates are correct?"

"If not, then it's not my fault," Joker replied defensively. "Old Weyland must be going senile."

A moment passed as Shepard continued to study the read-outs. Joker took the opportunity to clean some dirt from his nails. He may be bound to the pilot's chair, but that didn't mean he had to abandon his hygiene.

"Joker," Shepard said finally. "This isn't right. You're searching for massive heat signatures."

Joker sighed. The Commander was a great leader, but sometimes the technical stuff went right over his head. "The _Sulaco_ is a relic, Commander. Alliance ships that old didn't have stealth systems. If this thing's out there, it should be lit up like a flaming gasbag."

"True," Shepard replied, "except that the _Sulaco_ has been a derelict for twenty years. It's unlikely it has a heat signature at all."

Joker froze, staring at the orange display. Could he really have made such a rookie mistake?

"Try scanning for any low-level residual radiation," Shepard recommended.

"Got it." Joker quickly recalibrated the _Normandy's_ scanners and, sure enough-

"Reading a large object two clicks away, Commander," Joker reported. "Low-level emissions matching a lithium-hydride fusion reactor."

"So it's still got some power," Shepard muttered, stroking his chin.

"Some, but not much. Looks like the crew went into hyper sleep, putting the ship into aux-power mode. Life-support and navigation only."

"But they never woke up."

Joker shook his head. "Nope. This baby's been on a slow burn for twenty years. Surprised it hasn't sprung a leak."

Shepard nodded, satisfied. "Wake the crew. Conference room, five minutes."

* * * *

_Med-Lab_

"Good evening, Dr. T'Soni. I hope my insomnia isn't wearing off on you?"

Liara smiled. She had hoped to find the med-lab as deserted as the rest of the _Normandy,_ but she should have known better. Dr. Chakwas was a hopeless insomniac and could be found working at her desk at any hour. She was committed to serving the crew of the _Normandy_ to the best of her abilities, with little concern for her own wellbeing. She was also a lively and spirited person, contrary to what her grey hair and seemingly stern demeanor would lead one to believe.

"Not to worry, Doctor," Liara replied. "Insomnia is a non-transferable condition. I simply felt the need to do some work."

Chakwas shook her head, a small smile on her lips. "Liara, you are far too serious for an asari your age. Most Maidens so young would be chasing after dashing Alliance soldiers, not performing boring research."

Liara felt her face grow warm and silently cursed her body for betraying her. She was sure there was something knowing in Chakwas' smile, but thankfully the Doctor didn't press the subject. With a nod she returned to her work, and Liara proceeded to her office at the far end of the room.

The fact that her relationship with Shepard had blossomed into something far more intimate than the standard Commander-crew fare was an unconfirmed rumor aboard the _Normandy_. Liara knew she shouldn't be so nervous about the topic; these people were her friends as well as her colleagues. Still, she couldn't help but grow uncomfortable every time Joker commended the Commander for going "where no man had gone before." She was, after all, only 106; few respected asari ever bonded with a mate so early. Combine that with the fact that she was naturally self-conscious, and Liara was very glad to have an isolated work space to take refuge in.

The pneumatic door closed behind her with a soft hiss and she settled into her chair. The office was small, but well equipped. Thanks to state-of-the-art Alliance, asari, and salarian technology she could perform all manner of research here- as well as other, strictly off-the-record activities.

Liara switched on the desk light, casting a soft glow about the office. She opened a large bucket-drawer and removed some odd-looking headgear with wires running out of it. She attached these to her personal data pad, then donned the device. It was something of her own design, based off of Prothean technology she had recovered during archaeological digs. Essentially it allowed the wearer to record memories or dreams and transfer them to a holographic drive, where they could be picked apart and viewed as videos. The ability to decode brain waves was light-years beyond even the most advanced asari technology, but somehow the Protheans had managed to figure it out. Once she understood how the technology worked, it had been a simple matter of adapting it to asari neurology. Of course, the unauthorized use of recovered Prothean technology was strictly forbidden by the Galactic Archaeological Association, but she hadn't told anyone. And really, who was she hurting?

She punched some commands into the data pad and the headgear hummed to life. Liara closed her eyes, quickly entering a deep state of meditation. She opened neural pathways in her brain, allowing stored memories to be read, decoded, and transferred by the device. The process took less than a minute; with a soft _bing_ the data pad announced a successful upload. Liara opened her eyes and removed the device.

_Now, let's see what we can see._

She opened the file; the screen went instantly dark. Text scrolled across the upper-right corner, displaying various readings and statistics, but Liara paid them no attention. A chill swept through her body. Something moved in the video as the dream replayed itself. She leaned forward, nose inches from the screen, eager despite her fear to get a better look at the creature.

All at once it revealed itself. Liara inhaled sharply. The image onscreen was far more detailed than she remembered, and what was more, it wasn't distorted like decoded dreams usually were. If anything, it looked like a high-def vid-doc downloaded from the extranet. The creature was curled up into a ball, legs tucked in, tail wrapped around its body. Slowly it unfurled itself; quickly Liara sent the image to her omnitool and projected it as a three-dimensional hologram. She activated a voice recorder and began to dictate the details.

"The subject appears bipedal, standing upright at a full height of approximately 3 meters. It appears to have a black, shiny exoskeleton. Its chest features an exterior ribcage, with-." She paused the video and zoomed in. "It looks like a series of tightly-packed, ridged tubular structures running from the pelvis, beneath the ribcage, and to the base of the skull, as well as arching over its back."

Liara frowned. "Parts of the creature appear almost mechanical, or perhaps bio-mechanical. Could it be engineered?" She rotated the image. "Four large tubular structures protrude from its back- perhaps some sort of respiratory system? There is also a blade-like spine at the base of its neck. The tail is nearly the length of its body, constructed of segmented vertebra and tipped with a large, blade-like stinger."

Again she manipulated the projection, facing it towards her. "Groin area is featureless, suggesting the creature is mono-gendered, or perhaps the sex organ is internal. The hips are bony, with wing-like protrusions at either side." She zoomed in on the creature's arms. "Hands are five-fingered and clawed, although the four fingers are fused into groups of two, with the thumb free and separate. Muscle appears to be exposed at sections of the forearms, and the elbows feature a thin spine-like protrusion." She zoomed out. "Feet are also clawed."

Finally, Liara focused on the creature's head. Her breath caught short. The most terrifying part of her dream was even more frightening in reality. Clearing her throat, she began again. "The skull is elongated and curved, perhaps a meter long, and connects to the neck near the center of the skull. There are no visible eyes or nostrils; the upper half of the skull is smooth and featureless. It appears to be covered with a thin, translucent membrane." She progressed forward in the video; the creature opened its mouth, extending its inner jaw. "Clearly this is a predatory creature," Liara continued. "The jaw is fitted with extremely sharp fangs, as well as some sort of inner, secondary jaw that extends on a fleshy rod. What its function may be, I cannot imagine."

Liara grimaced. "Also, it displays…excessive drooling."

She terminated the projection, leaning back in her chair. Her heart was racing and her breathing shallow; she had tried to approach this clinically, objectively, but Liara found herself on edge. She stroked her head folds and took deep breaths; a calming technique her mother had used when Liara was a child.

What frightened her most was the alarming clarity of the file. The creature had none of the abstract vagueness of a dream. It seemed as real as any specimen that might be found and documented in the field. In fact, the amount of detail available almost suggested…

Liara sat up, struck by a sudden possibility. Powering up her data pad once more, she queued up the dream and ran a program to analyze and report its properties, such as duration, date recorded, brain wave type, etc. After a few moments the program finished, returning a list of all the statistics. Carefully Liara scrutinized them, looking for anything out of place.

Liara's eyes passed over one particular figure, and her stomach filled with acid.

The dream- what she had taken for a dream- did _not_ fall under the type 1 theta range, which covered all dreaming that occurred during REM sleep. Instead its patterns matched that commonly seen among data obtained through extrasensory perception by sensitive species; namely, asari. In other words, she had not dreamed the creature; she had unintentionally _sensed_ it using the natural psychic abilities that all asari have. The fact that this occurred while she was sleeping suggested that something- perhaps the creature itself- was actively "broadcasting" a signal, which she had inadvertently picked up. Whatever the creature was, it was more than a dream.

A high tone suddenly sounded as the PA system activated, startling Liara out of her shock.

"Attention all important crew members," Joker said. "Report to the conference room, A.S.A.P. All others, go back to sleep."

Liara rose shakily to her feet, stowing the data pad in her lab coat. She would ponder the implications of this revelation later; right now, she welcomed any excuse to surround herself with people.

* * * *

_Conference Room_

All heads turned towards Shepard as he entered the room, suited in his N7 armor. All five elite members of his crew were present, most of them looking like they just woke up. There was **Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, the female quarian engineer, her face hidden behind the mask of her ever-present bio-suit; Garrus Vakarian, the turian agent, a custom Kurwashi visor over one eye; Urdnot Wrex, the massive krogan battlemaster, already wearing his blood-red armor; Kaidan Alenko, Alliance Marine as well as the only other human in the room; and Liara, significantly more clothed since the last time Shepard saw her, wearing a black and white lab coat. Shepard immediately knew Liara was nervous; her skin was a few shades paler and her hands were clenched tightly in her lap. He shot her a concerned frown, but she simply jerked her head slightly: **_**Later.**_

"**I hope this is important, Shepard," Wrex grunted through a jaw-cracking yawn. "I was having a good dream."**

"**Do I want to know?" Kaidan asked. Wrex shook his head.**

"**It's important." Shepard strode over to a projector and brought up an image of the **_**Sulaco.**_

"**Ugly hunk of scrap," Garrus commented. "You humans are lucky we design all your ships now."**

"**That's a Colonial Marine ship," Kaidan said, sounding surprised as well as defensive. **

**Garrus shrugged. "I've never heard of them."**

"**They're defunct now, but they used to be the elite of the Alliance."**

"**I faced off against a few of them once," Wrex said. "Tough bastards. Squishy, though." **

"**This," Shepard interrupted, "is the **_**USS Sulaco.**_** It's a derelict, been missing for twenty years. Its last mission was investigating a comms failure at a Weyland- Yutani human colony. Something went wrong, though, and the colony was destroyed. We're going to find out what happened."**

**Tali rose to her feet and approached the hologram. "You mean we're going to go aboard this ship?" Her excitement was obvious, despite her heavy accent and the electronic quality the mask gave her voice. Quarians were expert engineers, and Shepard knew Tali would relish any opportunity to tinker around on a ship. **

"**That's the plan. We go aboard, look for clues, collect any evidence we find."**

**Wrex grunted. "Sounds boring. We get to kill anything?"**

"**No life signs have been detected aboard the **_**Sulaco**_**." Shepard grinned. "Sorry, Wrex."**

**The krogan exhaled. "Think I'll sit this one out. If that's all right with you."**

"**I'm with you, Shepard," Tali said, sounding slightly breathless. She was practically salivating to get inside the **_**Sulaco**_**.**

**Kaidan stood. "So am I. Any Alliance business is my business."**

**Shepard nodded, then turned to Liara, eyebrows raised. He could see the anxiety in her eyes; something was deeply troubling her. Liara opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted as Joker came over the PA again.**

"**Commander, could you come to the bridge? There's something you need to see."**

**Shepard frowned. "What is it, Joker?"**

"**I think Weyland lied to us. Big surprise."**

*** * * ***

_**The Bridge**_

**They all crowded around Joker, peering through viewport. Joker activated the **_**Normandy's**_** running lights and the hulk of the **_**Sulaco**_** leapt out of the darkness. It was completely dark, monolithic, hovering at a canted angle. The enormous cruiser easily dwarfed the **_**Normandy**_**. Shepard felt an unexpected thrill of unease.**

"**What am I looking for?" he asked. **

"**Hang on." Joker adjusted the **_**Normandy**_**, bringing it level with the **_**Sulaco**_**. They drifted parallel the derelict, its massive hull slowly passing by like the walls of a steel canyon.**

"**We're coming up on the **_**Sulaco's**_** docking port. We should be seeing- there!"**

**Shepard leaned forward. "What the hell?" The docking port was already occupied by an unknown ship, smaller than the **_**Normandy**_** but just as dark as the **_**Sulaco**_**.**

"**That's a turian ship," Garrus said. "Looks like a salvage frigate."**

**Joker leaned back, arms crossed. "Yeah, supposedly a turian salvage crew discovered this thing. Looks like they never left." His disdain for Weyland-Yutani's information policy was obvious.**

**Shepard felt his temper rise. What the hell was going on? Why would Weyland leave out information like this? Whatever the reason, the Commander hated being lied to. It was a costly mistake, one people only made once.**

"**Life signs?" he asked. Joker replied in the negative.**

**Shepard turned and walked back through the bridge, heading towards the weapon rack. "Can we dock with the frigate?" he asked. He selected his favorite assault rifle, holstering it on his back.**

**Joker quickly manipulated the holographic display. "Nope. Looks like it's locked down for some reason."**

"**Then drop us on its hull. We'll cut through and get in that way."**

**Garrus came up beside him. "I'm going with you, Commander. That frigate could hold valuable information; you may need my help."**

**Shepard nodded, and instructed the others to suit up. As they moved away, Liara approached him. She still looked nervous, and was hugging herself, but she said confidently, "I'm coming with as well."**

**Shepard turned to her. He gently gripped her shoulders. "Are you sure?" he asked softly. Liara took a deep breath and nodded.**

"**Liara, what's wrong?"**

**She bit her lower lip, her brow pinched. Finally she said, "It's nothing. I just…have a bad feeling about this." Liara made a brave attempt at a smile. "What will you do without me?"**

**Shepard pulled her into a brief embrace. "Suit up."**

*** * * ***

_**Outside the Normandy**_

**Shepard, Garrus, Tali, and Liara stepped from the **_**Normandy's**_** airlock into the vacuum of space. Every movement produced nothing but total silence. The only sounds Shepard could hear were his own breathing and the voices of his crew through his helmet's speakers. **

"**Two second burst," he spoke into the throat mike. "On my mark." After a beat he briefly activated the thrusters built into his suit, his squad mates doing the same. They were propelled across the short distance from the **_**Normandy**_** to the salvage frigate. The electro-magnets in their boots latched onto the frigate's hull, keeping them from bouncing off into the void. **

"**Nicely done, Commander," Joker said. "Ok, proceed five meters along the starboard side. You'll be directly above the air lock."**

"**Copy that." They traversed the hull per Joker's instructions, their movements slow and awkward in the zero-gravity environment. The hull of the **_**Sulaco**_** towered above them to their right. Shepard raised a hand, signaling the others to stop. "Ok, Tali. You're up."**

"**Right." The quarian produced a plasma torch. A blinding shaft of light flared to life, utterly silent, and she began to slice through the frigate's hull. Moments later, the job was done. Tali stood back as Kaidan kicked at the circular piece of metal, dislodging it from the hull. Shepard waited a moment as the frigate decompressed through the breach, then dropped into the airlock. **

**The small square room was pitch- black. Shepard activated the halogen lamp on his helmet. To his right was the exterior door, which was docked with the **_**Sulaco **_**but sealed; to his left the interior one, leading into the ship proper. **

**The airlock quickly became cramped as the rest of the squad dropped down beside him. Tali immediately attacked the interior door with her torch, cutting through the locks. Once finished, Shepard slid his fingers into the narrow opening and pried the doors apart.**

"**Shit!"**

**They all leapt back, drawing their weapons. But the body that floated towards them was harmless- a corpse, turian, with half its skull missing. A pistol was clenched in one hand.**

"**Blew his own brains out," Garrus muttered, with a note of disgust. He had little tolerance for cowardice of any kind, especially among other turians. Using his rifle he shoved the body, sending it spinning back into the ship.**

"**Stay alert, people," Shepard warned. Cautiously they stepped through the doorway, rifles raised. The interior was circular, larger than the airlock but still cramped. With no power being supplied to the ship, there was no artificial gravity. Mugs, tools, data pads, and other debris slowly revolved in mid-air. The room was illuminated only by their headlamps, casting narrow shafts of light about the place. Being a civilian ship, the frigate was more comfortably designed than the **_**Normandy**_**: the walls were padded, with squishy couches set around the room's circumference. Computers were set into the walls, older models, their screens dark, some cracked. A table was overturned in the center of the room, hovering several inches above the floor. It was marked with scorches and what were clearly dark blood stains. There was no sign of the rest of the crew.**

"**What happened here?" Tali asked in a hushed voice.**

"**I don't know," Kaidan said. "But I have a feeling Wrex is going to regret not coming."**

**They proceeded through a narrow corridor into the cockpit. It was empty, the monitors dark here as well. Half the co-pilot's seat had been torn off by…**_**something**_**. Liara glanced up at the ceiling- and ice water coursed through her veins. Deep scratches, like claw marks, had been gouged into the metal. She knew they could have been caused by anything, but she couldn't help but flash to the creature from her dream. She suddenly realized she was moaning softly, and quickly stopped. She turned to see Shepard staring at her.**

"**What's wrong?" He came to her side. Liara shook her head, but the Commander had already seen the marks. He called the others over.**

"**What could cut into a ship's hull like that?" Tali asked, sounding almost awe-struck. No one had an answer. Shepard contacted Joker.**

"**Can you get me a map of the frigate's layout?" **

"**Already on it, Commander. Sending it to your omnitools now."**

**Shepard opened the map. A three-dimensional model of the turian frigate hovered above his arm, the interior spaces visible and labeled. A pulsing blue dot showed their current location.**

"**The ship's core is down one level." He turned to Tali. "Can you get it running again?"**

**The quarian uttered a short laugh. "If the core isn't damaged, I'll have this thing running in no time."**

"**Good," Shepard nodded. "Restore power, then access the ship's logs and find out what the hell happened here."**

"**What about you?"**

**Shepard closed the map. "We're going exploring."**


	3. Chapter 3

**3**

**The Derelict, Part 2**

_The Omega Nebula, Terminus Systems_

_Cargo Bay 2A, USS Sulaco_

While Tali stayed behind to work on the turian frigate's core, Shepard and the others returned to the airlock. According to Joker, the _Sulaco_'s environmental systems were still functioning, as well as the artificial gravity. This meant that, when the doors to the _Sulaco_ were opened, it would briefly decompress into the frigate. In order to avoid being sucked into space through the breach in the airlock's ceiling, Shepard had Liara place a biotic shield over it. Kaidan then cut through the sealed door with a plasma torch.

"Ok," he said once finished. "Here goes nothing, Commander." With a grunt he pried the doors open.

A gust of air blasted into the frigate, sending them all stumbling back. Sound began to return as the ship filled with atmosphere.

Joker was monitoring it all from aboard the _Normandy_. "Atmosphere and pressure should be equalized, Commander. You can remove your helmets."

Sincerely hoping Joker was correct, Shepard disconnected the air tube, released the seal, and removed his helmet. The air was stale and the cold bit at his face, but it was breathable. Seeing that Shepard was neither suffocating nor exploding, the rest of the squad also removed their helmets.

"Smells awful," Garrus commented.

They entered the _Sulaco_'s airlock, which was significantly larger than the frigate's. The door was large enough for a cargo container to pass through, the walls smooth and sterile-looking. Normally they would have been scanned and sterilized, but since the _Sulaco_ was running at the lowest power setting, only the essential operations were functional.

Garrus moved to a control panel by the door. "Just give me a minute to hack this and we're in."

Exactly one minute later the large doors parted. The squad instinctively grouped together, weapons at the ready. After the carnage they had witnessed aboard the frigate, they were taking no chances.

Shepard shined the light on his rifle into the darkness beyond the airlock, but the beam was swallowed by the void; the cargo bay must have been massive. He cautiously led the way into the _Sulaco_ proper. As soon as they stepped over the threshold, light strips on the ceiling activated, illuminating the area with low-level lighting.

The cargo bay _was_ massive, a vast warehouse-sized room, all dull grey steel and yellow hazard stripes. Large shipping containers were stacked along the right wall, all the way to the far side. Two APC vehicles were stationed along the left side of the room, looking like giant lead bricks. Several large power loaders stood abandoned, painted yellow with black hazard stripes, their clamps menacing in the gloom, their warning lights dark. Thick steel chains hung from the ceiling, where automated cranes could be seen, motionless in their tracks. In the center of the room a UD4L Cheyenne dropship crouched like a giant bird of prey, and a secondary airlock was set into the floor to its left. Everything seemed to shine in the low light; it took Shepard a moment to realize why: a thin gloss of ice had formed over every surface. The whole area gave off an air of abandonment, something Liara was familiar with from her archaeological digs; it was as though everyone had just dropped what they were doing and vanished.

The group spread out through the cargo bay, their footsteps echoing in the vast space. Liara was drawn to the dropship; she had noticed something odd. She ducked beneath one of the wings and knelt to the floor. There was a large white stain where some sort of substance had been smeared across the floor. She also noticed three small holes nearby; it looked as though a corrosive substance had burned right through the metal.

Liara called the others over and pointed out the anomalies. Shepard knelt down beside her, gingerly touching the white stain. It left a powdery residue on his fingers. "What is it?"

Liara also touched it. She lightly licked the residue, her breath condensing in the frigid air. "I'm not certain, but I believe it's an amino soup."

Kaidan snorted. "Someone spilled their soup?"

"Not _edible _soup," Liara corrected. "A synthetic fluid composed of essential amines was used as a sort of 'life-blood' in androids, back before they were prohibited. I believe that is what this substance is- or was."

Shepard wiped the powder off his fingers. "I'm guessing androids weren't supposed to spill this much soup?"

Liara shook her head. "Whatever happened to this android, it almost certainly did not survive." The question was, what had happened?

"And what about these?" Shepard probed the three holes with his fingers; they disappeared all the way to the third knuckle. The metal was warped and bubbled; it hadn't just burned, it had melted.

Joker, who had been silent until now, broke in. "Whatever caused those burns must have been some seriously potent shit. Even military-grade acids can't do that amount of damage."

"If you like that," Garrus said, "then you're going to _love_ this." He was shining his light into one of the landing gear wells in the wing directly above them. Shepard peered in- and immediately recoiled.

"What the hell are _those_?"

Stuck to the side of the well were two large, leathery sacks, open at one end. The openings were ringed with four flaps, like flower petals. The inside of the sacks were empty, the walls fleshy and organic. They were also coated in a thin film of ice which made them appear slimy, adding to their unpleasantness (if possible).

Kaidan stared up at them in disgust. "Are those…_eggs?_"

Standing on tiptoe, Liara reached up for one of the sacks. Shepard grabbed her arm. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"It's alright, Shepard. They've been here for years; I'm sure they are quite safe." With both hands she grasped an object and pulled it free with a squelching sound. The others stood back as she placed it on the floor.

"With all due respect," Joker said, "there's no way in hell you're bringing that on the _Normandy_…What is it?"

"I don't know," Liara said softly. "But I would like to find out."

Personally, Shepard couldn't stand the sight of the things. They made his stomach squirm, and also gave him an unpleasant, ominous feeling in his gut. He stepped out from under the dropship. "Joker, how can we access the _Sulaco_'s computers?"

"Hang on." There was a pause as Joker brought up a map. "Let's see…ok, there's a command module near your location. Well, relatively near. It's about a quarter of a mile walk. I'll send you a map marked with the location."

"Great." Shepard turned to the others. "Ok, let's try and get some answers."

* * * *

_Maintenance Sub-Level, SSV Normandy_

_This sucks_.

Warrant officer Charlie Edmund knew he shouldn't complain. He was serving on the _Normandy_, under _the_ Commander Shepard, savior of humanity. How many greenhorns could say _that?_ Yet despite this honor, Charlie couldn't help but feel frustrated. He wanted to be out in the thick of it, helping Shepard fight back the geth threat, but how was he supposed to do that when he was stuck with waste management duty?

The work actually wasn't demeaning, despite the implications. There was always a half-foot of steel floor between him and the holding tank that contained the crew's byproducts (although sometimes, when that krogan backed up the system- whoo, the smell!). The problem was that the work was insultingly easy and boring beyond belief. Once every 120 hours Charlie would come down to the maintenance sub-level, check the holding tank's capacity level, and punch a button to eject the offal into space. Wham, bam, thank you, ma'am.

Also, if Charlie was being completely honest with himself, the sub-level was kind of creepy. For one thing it was completely isolated at the very bottom of the ship, beneath the engineering and storage deck. One accessed it by descending a ladder through a small trap door. The room itself was small, with a low ceiling, and packed full of hissing pipes. The only light came from a single lighting strip in the ceiling, which was red, for some reason. Each time he had to come down here, he did his work as quickly as possible and boogied on out of there.

_Yeah, this sucks._ Charlie leaned against the console, staring glumly at the monitor.

Maximum capacity reached? Check.

Hydraulics fully functioning? Check.

No leaks or anomalies? Check, all systems go.

Charlie punched the button. Houston, we have lift-off.

Outside, a hatch opened on the belly of the _Normandy_. Rapid decompression sucked out most of the waste. Several high-powered air jets were used to make sure any remaining traces were blown out into space. The entire process took 30 seconds. The hatch doors were open for 15, and during those 15 seconds, while waste was being blown out of the tank, something else came in. It slithered into a corner, its long tail whipping inside just before the hatch doors closed.

Charlie had no knowledge of this; the computer had not been designed to monitor things coming _into_ the holding tank. What could survive in the vacuum of space? And if he had heard the deadly hissing coming from beneath the floor, he would probably have thought nothing of it. Those pipes did hiss a lot, after all.

* * * *

_Engineering Level, Salvage Frigate_

Tali's breathing grew shallow and rapid as she crawled over tangles of wires beneath the floor grates, her omnitool lighting the way. She loved exploring the inner workings of any ship, but she had always tried to avoid smaller frigates. Almost any work on them involved squeezing oneself into a narrow crawlspace, and, although she had never told anyone this, Tali was more than a little claustrophobic. After years spent living in the spacious cruisers of the Flotilla, the idea of being bound within the walls of anything smaller was unbearable. She was extremely grateful to be serving on a larger prototype "deep scout" frigate like the _Normandy_.

Of course, its size was not the only reason she loved serving on the _Normandy_. The frigate was outfitted with cutting edge technology- most notably the IES stealth system and Tantalus Drive Core. She would never have had an opportunity to work with such advanced equipment on any other ship. Comparatively, doing repairs on the salvage frigate was like playing with a toddler's toys.

With a grunt Tali dragged herself out of the crawlspace. The area she entered was only slightly larger and still pitch- black, but she felt her breathing become more regular and her chest less tight at once. An ancient-looking power core was mounted in front of her, half of it rising above the floor grates. The cylindrical, somehow menacing hulk sat dark and silent; it was up to her to find out why.

She lowered her light to the base of the core- and shrieked, falling back. Slumped against the machinery was another body, turian again. His head was tilted back, his mouth stretched open in what had clearly been a scream. It took Tali a moment to realize why: two thick power cables were clutched in his talons, the exposed ends pressed against his chest. Like his crewmate, this unfortunate soul had committed suicide. By electrocution.

_What would drive a person to do such a thing?_ Tali felt sickened by the sight. The turian must have been driven mad by fear. Perhaps he had initially crawled down here to hide. Had something found him? Tentatively she leaned over the body. The chest was blackened and charred, the eyes burnt out. There were no other wounds. There was, however, some odd substance that appeared to have dripped onto his right shoulder. Tali gently touched it; it was clear and hard, like resin. But resin from what?

Tali flashed back to the scratches in the cockpit and the destroyed chair. Something had attacked the crew. Something from the _Sulaco_. And it could still be here, aboard the frigate.

Shivering, Tali set to work. She gently laid the dead turian aside, then pried the cables from his hands. After a moment of searching she found the outlets in the core and inserted the cables.

"_Keelah!_" she cursed, leaping back as sparks spat from the machinery. Slowly the inner workings of the core began to spin. A low moaning sound filled the chamber, and yellow lights flickered to life above her. Power was restored. Now she could access the ship's computers, find out what the hell had happened, and regroup with the Commander. Only then would she feel completely safe.

The Commander was another reason Tali was glad to be aboard the _Normandy_. When they had first met on the Citadel she had been in serious trouble with some of the Shadow Broker's assassins. Shepard had promptly placed metal slugs in all their skulls, saving her life and earning her loyalty. From there it had been a whirl wind of adventure and danger as they traveled across the galaxy, hunting down the treacherous Spectre Saren Arterius. The Commander was fair, tough when need be, but also kind to his crew. She had also found Shepard strong, courageous, and heroic; was it so surprising she had grown stronger feelings for him? But now, with rumors about Liara and the Commander…

Tali shook away her idle thoughts. She could focus on it later; right now she had a job to do, and the sooner the better. Heaving a sigh, she turned back to the crawlspace. _Damned turian relics._ She lay flat on her belly and pushed herself into the passage.

Above the floor grates, wedged into a cubby in the ceiling, what at first glance seemed to be a mass of tubing and pipes slowly and silently stretched, extending long talons and a segmented tail. Tali noticed nothing…

* * * *

_Corridor A1, USS Sulaco_

Shepard and his group exited the cargo bay through a door on the far left side. Beyond lay a gloomy hall that stretched further than their light beams could reach. After a quick weapons check they set out, following the map projecting from Shepard's omnitool.

For a time the only sounds were their footsteps echoing against the walls. Shepard kept stealing glances at Liara. There was a far-away look in her deep blue eyes that told him she was in full scientist mode. While her skin was still pale, her anxiety seemed to have evaporated. It seemed the discovery of unidentified fleshy sacks could cure anything. Speaking of which…

"Any idea what those things were?" Shepard asked. She turned toward him slowly, as though waking from a dream. She took a deep breath.

"I believe Kaidan's initial observation was accurate," she said. "Those objects appeared to be some sort of egg, long since hatched."

Kaidan looked surprised, and also a bit self-satisfied. "I didn't know I had a scientific bone in me."

"Don't make me pop that swelling head." Garrus waved a talon threateningly. Kaidan responded with a hand sign of his own.

Shepard ignored the banter. _Eggs._ In all his experiences he had learned that the only good thing that came from eggs was an omelet. "Any clues as to what hatched from them?"

Liara opened her mouth to speak, then paused. It was only for a second, but Shepard caught it immediately. "No," she said. "But I'm willing to bet against the Goddess that whatever came out of those eggs killed the _Sulaco_'s crew."

Shepard nodded, but said nothing. Liara had been acting strange since the start of this mission, and now it seemed she was hiding something from him. What? Despite knowing his feelings were getting in the way, he decided not to drill her now. She seemed to have only just calmed down; he didn't want to get her worked up again.

The group came to a crossroads in the corridor: a straight shot forward, a door to the left, and a staircase to the right. Shepard consulted the map. "We go up," he informed them. "One level."

They started their climb. The group moved slowly; the steps were slick. Twice Garrus slipped and nearly fell back down. They reached the first landing with a door, when a burst of static came over their comms units.

"Shepard." It was Tali. "I've restored power to the frigate."

"Excellent," Shepard commended her. "Get into the computers and see if you can find anything useful."

"Will do," she replied. "I just need to–"

There was a pause, and then a brief scuffling, scratching sound. Shepard pressed a finger to his earpiece.

"Tali?" No answer. "_Tali?_"

"Sorry," came the response. "I thought I had heard something." She sounded breathless, and also a little frightened.

"You're alright?"

"Yes, Commander. I'll check the computers."

"Ok. Stay safe." Shepard faced the others. Liara was watching him, a slight sharpness in her eyes. He arched his eyebrows. She shook her head.

"Think she'll find anything?" Kaidan asked. Shepard shrugged.

"I hope so." He consulted the map. "Through this door."

They stepped into another black hallway. Shepard shined his light down the walkway, locating a door on the left. "This way."

They approached the door. "Command Module A" was stenciled above it. They all glanced at Shepard. He gave a short nod, raised his rifle, and opened the door. The others immediately fell into crouches, aiming down their sights into the room.

It was empty. It was in the shape of an octagon, the walls white and dotted with dead lights and blank display screens. They stretched up towards a ceiling lost in darkness, giving the impression of having fallen into a pit. Directly across from the door was a chair mounted to the floor. A single large monitor was placed in front of it, with a keyboard with an array of large keys set beneath it. A single green cursor blinked steadily on the screen.

Holstering his weapon, Shepard strode towards the computer. He sank into the chair; the cushions were frozen solid. He wiped frost from the display screen and reached for the keyboard. Unsure what to do, he experimentally pressed a button. An electronic squawk was emitted and a message appeared on screen:

**INCORRECT PASSWORD. PLEASE TRY AGAIN.**

Joker came over Shepard's headset. "That tech is ancient, Commander. Your omnitool should make quick work of any security."

"Got it." Shepard closed the projected map, input a few commands, and placed his omnitool near the monitor. There was another brief series of squawks, and the screen went dark.

"Joker…" Shepard growled.

"Just give it a minute."

Shepard gave it two. Then, quite suddenly, the screen flared to life. A message began to scroll with more squawking:

**PASSWORD ACCEPTED. WELCOME TO THE USS SULACO MAINFRAME. PLEASE INPUT QUERY.**

_Nice._ Shepard hunched over the keyboard. The others came to his side, peering over his shoulder.

"Ask for the most recent activity," Liara suggested. Shepard began typing. After a moment, he got his answer.

**Q: WHAT WAS THE LAST ACTION CARRIED OUT ABOARD THE SULACO?**

**A: HYPER SLEEP PODS 5A THROUGH D WERE EJECTED OVER THE WEYLAND- YUTANI PENAL COLONY OF FIORINA 161. CREW MEMBERS STATIONED IN PODS WERE:**

**"BISHOP" [ARTIFICIAL PERSON]**

**HICKS, D.**

**JORDEN, R.**

**RIPLEY, E.**

There was a moment of stunned silence from the four. Then–

"Shit," Kaidan said softly.

"There _were_ survivors," Garrus said. "And the ship blew their pods!"

"Could they have survived that?" Liara asked anxiously.

Shepard had no idea. If they had survived, then surely news would have gotten out; news that Weyland-Yutani almost certainly would have heard, especially if they landed on a Company-owned penal colony. So the question was: had The Company really heard nothing, or was this another example of their dishonesty? Either way, it was something Shepard added to his growing list of questions for Karl Weyland.

"A system like that is automated," Joker informed them. "Something must have tripped an alarm."

"Let's find out what," Shepard muttered, typing another query.

**Q: WHAT CAUSED THE PODS TO BE EJECTED?**

**A: FOLLOWING THE DETECTION OF AN UNKNOWN BIOLOGICAL MATERIAL, A FIRE WAS DETECTED IN THE HYPER SLEEP CHAMBER.**

_Unknown biological material…_ "Could that have been whatever hatched from those eggs?" Shepard asked aloud.

"It is likely," Liara replied. "But were the creatures ejected with the pods, or are they still here on the ship?"

Joker had an answer. "The only life-signs the _Normandy_ is picking up are you four. The rest of the ship's dead."

Shepard was not satisfied; despite what Joker may think, technology was not infallible. He entered his final question into the computer:

**Q: WHAT EVENTS TOOK PLACE UPON ARRIVAL AT LV-426?**

**A:UPON ARRIVAL HYPER SLEEP PODS 4A THROUGH Q WERE ACTIVATED, AWAKENING THE CREW. THE SULACO WAS PLACED INTO AUTOMATIC AUXILIARY MODE.  
**

**0008 HOURS LATER A DROPSHIP DEPARTED FOR THE SURFACE OF "ACHERON" LV-426 CARRYING ALL CREW MEMBERS.  
**

**0005 HOURS LATER A SECOND DROPSHIP WAS REMOTELY PILOTED FROM THE SULACO TO THE SURFACE OF LV-426.**

**0002 HOURS LATER A LARGE THERMONUCLEAR DETONATION WAS DETECTED ON THE SURFACE OF LV-426, LOCATED IN THE CENTER OF THE COLONY OF HADLEY'S HOPE.**

**0005 MINUTES LATER THE SECOND DROPSHIP RETURNED TO THE SULACO.**

**0015 MINUTES LATER THE SECONDARY AIRLOCK IN CARGO BAY 2A WAS OPENED.**

**0001 MINUTES LATER THE SECONDARY AIRLOCK IN CARGO BAY 2A WAS CLOSED.  
**

**0010 MINUTES LATER HYPER SLEEP PODS 5A THROUGH D WERE ACTIVATED AND THE SULACO WAS PLACED INTO A LOW LEVEL POWER MODE.  
**

**0360 HOURS LATER FOLLOWING ****THE DETECTION OF AN UNKNOWN BIOLOGICAL MATERIAL, A FIRE WAS DETECTED IN THE HYPER SLEEP CHAMBER.****HYPER SLEEP PODS 5A THROUGH D WERE EJECTED OVER THE WEYLAND- YUTANI PENAL COLONY OF FIORINA 161. **

The room was silent as all members of the squad read from the screen. Slowly a picture was coming together, giving a vague outline of what had happened to the doomed crew. It didn't answer everything, however; why was a second drop ship needed? What caused the nuclear explosion? What had happened in the cargo bay that required the airlock to be opened? And what had hatched from those eggs?

"Joker, get a copy of this information onto the _Normandy_," Shepard ordered. "I want Weyland to see it firsthand."

"Roger that, Commander. What are you going to do now?"

Shepard mulled over the options. On the one hand, he had gotten all the info from the ship's computers. He knew what happened to the survivors, and according to Joker there was nothing left aboard the _Sulaco_. On the other hand, there was surely more to be learned. If the ship were brought in to an Alliance base…

"I'm activating the ship's core," he decided. "We'll bring it to full power, then call in an Alliance towing ship to bring the _Sulaco_ in. They can pick over it."

There were nods all around. "Sounds like a plan, Commander," Joker said. "I'll bring the _Normandy _around and ready it for pick-up."

Shepard cracked his knuckles and entered in the command:

BRING the Sulaco systems to full power.

The ship asked for confirmation. Shepard gave it. Almost immediately a deep thrumming could be felt from the bowels of the ship, vibrating through the walls. An endless stream of text scrolled across the screen as the ship's computers ran diagnostics. Shepard rose from the chair. He would let Joker monitor it.

"All right." He turned to his squad. "Let's go."

Moments later, all hell broke loose.

* * * *

_Deep within the USS Sulaco_

Joker's trust in technology had failed him. Despite what the _Normandy's_ scanners reported, there were more living things aboard the _Sulaco_ than just Shepard and his squad.

_Lots_ more.

Almost a quarter- mile beneath Command Module A, in thick darkness, the ship's immense and ancient core powered to life. Machinery that had not moved in decades slowly struggled into motion, energy surging through cold conduits. The heat and radiation output of the core spiked significantly.

All this disturbed the massive creature that had set up home right next to the core.

Her cold, alien mind slowly emerged from the state of hibernation that it had been in for years. She felt the disturbance in her nest, and she did not like it one bit. As her consciousness awoke from its slumber she felt the minds of her innumerable children scattered throughout the ship. She felt what they felt, saw what they saw. Her growing fury at the disturbance of her slumber was almost immediately drowned out: there were _others_ aboard the ship.

She had nothing against _others_. On the contrary, she welcomed guests. All were welcome, so long as they caused no harm, because all were useful. Through all she could create more children. And these _others_ that she sensed were varied and diverse; her offspring through them would make a fine addition to the nest.

Her strange yet powerful brain now fully aware, she reached out and touched the minds of her children, sending one simple message. It would have translated something like this:

_Find the _others. _Bring them to me. Do not harm them._

_Unless you must._

* * * *

_The Bridge, Salvage Frigate_

Tali was being watched. She was certain of it.

As she ascended from the engineering level she had clutched her Devlon Firestorm X shotgun tight, stealing glances over her shoulder. There was something else on this ship; she could feel it.

Now, finally reaching the upper deck, she hurried into the cockpit. With one more glance behind her she sat in the pilot's chair, shotgun across her lap, and began flipping switches, bringing power to the computers. The monitors glowed blue with white text: turian, of course. Luckily Tali had studied several languages during her education aboard the Flotilla, turian among them. She quickly navigated the computer's systems until she found the log. There were several folders, each apparently named after a separate discovery by the salvage crew. She selected the most recent one, titled "Unknown Derelict."

Entries began to scroll down the screen, over a dozen. Tali desperately wanted to simply upload them to her omnitool and leave this floating tomb, but curiosity got the better of her. She decided to open the first entry.

**Scanners picked up something. Barely any emissions, so it's definitely a derelict. It's old, older than anything we've found. Hopefully it aged like a fine asari wine.**

Tali glanced behind her; there was no movement, nor anything out of place. She was alone. Quickly she opened the next one:

**Damn. Looks like we weren't the first to find this thing. Another salvage ship was already docked with it, human judging by the make. We hovered nearby, not sure what to do. Finally Anias tried hailing them; no answer. Probably still aboard the derelict. They shouldn't leave their ship unattended. Humans. We'll watch them for a while. Then we'll decide what to do.**

Tali's stomach jolted. There was _another_ salvage ship? But the _Normandy_ hadn't picked it up, just the turian one. What had happened? Eagerly she continued.

**It's been two days. No movement from the human ship, no response to our hailing. Something's not right. Our scanners picked up no life on the salvage ship. We're going to cut into it, find out what happened. They may be human, but we can't just not do anything. Besides, maybe they have something valuable aboard.**

Tali whipped around. She had _heard_ something, she was sure of it. Clutching her Firestorm she rose from the chair and cautiously went down the walkway. She scanned the ceiling, the walls, all corners: nothing. Just pipes and dead equipment. _Get a hold of yourself, girl. You're just getting jumpy._

She returned to the computer, not turning her back until she sat down. With a growing feeling of unease she opened the next file.

**Shit. ShitshitshitshitSHIT! That frigate was a mess! Blood everywhere, and something I can't even identify. No sign of the humans. It's like an animal tore the place up. We boarded the derelict; the thing is huge. There was barely any power, ice covering everything. We had barely gone into the cargo bay when we decided to turn around. All of us had a bad feeling; no job was worth this. But then we heard it- a scream, a moan. Anias, the fucking heroic bastard, had to check it out. And it's not like we were going to just stand there. We all went. Fuck, I wish we hadn't. What we found- I can still see it. Them. The humans, plastered to the walls, chests ripped open. Then the walls came alive, began to move. There were hundreds of them! Our guns did nothing, we just ran. Back to the cargo bay and into the human ship. We sealed the doors. Only then did we realize we hadn't all made it. Anias and Jeyak were missing. Left behind. It was just me and Gorman. But what the hell were we supposed to do? We released the human ship from the derelict, then returned to our own. I wanted to get the hell out of this system but Gorman wanted to wait. Maybe we would hear from Anias. Not sure I want to. But I am hearing things. Scratching outside the hull. And maybe inside it. Impossible, nothing can survive in space, not even those things. Still… I'm sealing the airlock. Hopefully my next report will have better news.**

Tali knew it wouldn't. Her nerves were charged, her lungs frozen. _Hundreds of them._ Shepard and the others were in huge danger! She had to–

She stared at the monitor. Her reflection stared back, but that was not what caught her attention. Something else was reflected. Something big and black. It had dropped quietly from the ceiling behind her; she wouldn't have noticed if not for the movement in the screen. _How could she have missed it?!_ What it was she didn't know, but she knew it was bad. Very bad.

Quick as lightning she jumped to her feet and whirled around, shotgun raised. The _thing_ was quicker. _It was right there!_ Not even a foot from her, all black armor and spines, a long tail coiled behind it. Claws clutched her arms and jerked them up; the shotgun went flying. The monster's warped, sightless head leaned close, inches from her face. It emitted a maddening hissing. Lips peeled back to reveal razor-sharp teeth. They opened, revealing, impossibly, _another_ jaw! Thick slime drooled from its mouth. Tali was frozen in terror.

The second jaw snapped forward faster than a blink. It hit her face mask, cracking it and smearing it with drool. Her head snapped back from the force- but she didn't die. The face mask was the strongest part of a quarian bio-suit, being the most vital.

Her lack of immediate death seemed to confuse the creature. It served to wake Tali from her shock. With a scream she kicked at the creature, sending it stumbling back. She ran past it, shotgun all but forgotten. She had to get out of here.

She stumbled through the deck, panic driving her. She nearly tripped over debris, only just saving herself from falling to the floor. Tali didn't know if it was following her; she didn't risk looking back. She just wanted to escape.

Heart pounding, breathing ragged, she ducked into the airlock- and froze. The doors to the _Sulaco_ had been left open. Through them she could see the cargo bay, a massive space. She could also see the countless black shapes crawling towards her like giant insects, on the walls, the floor, the ceiling- _everywhere_. Tali knew she could never fight them all, but she couldn't stay in the frigate. She was trapped.

A clawed hand fell on her shoulder, squeezing tight, talons biting through her suit. Desperately Tali twisted away, trying to wrench free from the monster. She spun around to face it- it stood on two legs, towering over her, hunched in the small airlock. It spread its arms and opened its mouth, screeching furiously at her. She heard more screeches and hissing from behind her.

The part of her brain devoted to survival took over, eliminating any care for consequences in the future- all that mattered was living through this moment. She entered a command into her omnitool with speed gained from experience, her fingers moving so fast they were a blur. As the creature lunged towards her, Tali raised her omnitool to the biotic shield that covered the breach in the ceiling. A built-up charge released into the shield, overpowering it and opening a hole to space. The ship rapidly decompressed.

The last thing she heard before being sucked into the abyss was the sound of gunfire.

* * * *

_Command Module A, USS Sulaco_

Shepard and co. never made it out the door. They had barely taken a step when Liara fell to her knees, screaming and clutching her head. Garrus and Kaidan took an involuntary step back, shocked expressions on their faces. Shepard lunged to her side and gripped her shoulders.

"_What is it?!_"

She turned her face up to him. Her eyes were full of tears- and terror. "We have to leave!" she sobbed.

Then Joker spoke up: "_Holy shit!_"

Shepard pressed a finger to his ear. "What?! Talk to me, Joker!"

Joker talked, a tremble audible in his voice. "Uh, I just got a massive spike in movement on the _Sulaco_, all of it heading your way!"

Immediately Garrus and Kaidan took positions by the door, rifles aimed into the hallway. Shepard opened the map on his omnitool. His stomach did a somersault.

Garrus glanced at it. "Oh, that can't be good," he muttered.

A blue pulsing dot marked their location. An enormous mass of red had appeared on the map, surrounding them on all sides- it was rapidly closing in.

"Joker, I thought you said we were the only ones on this ship!"

"I didn't read any more life signs!" Joker practically screamed. "But something sure as hell is moving! Get out of there!"

As Shepard watched the map, he knew it was too late. The red mass was mere meters from them and closing fast from all directions. If they went into the hallway they would have multiple directions to cover. In here, there was only one way in. And Liara was in no condition to make a run for, still afflicted by whatever was going on in her head.

"Garrus, Kaidan," Shepard ordered, "cover that door. _Nothing gets in_." They replied with grim nods. Shepard rose to his feet, standing guard over Liara, rifle aimed at the door. With all his attention focused forward he couldn't monitor the map, but he didn't need to; Joker kept a running commentary.

"Twelve meters," he informed them. Shepard moved himself in front of Liara, blocking her from whatever was coming.

"Ten meters."

Garrus and Kaidan steadied their stances, flanking the door. Quickly Kaidan wiped his forehead with his arm.

"Eight meters."

Shepard inhaled deeply and slowly, steadying his aim. Any minute…

"Six meters!" A note of panic crept into Joker's voice.

"Steady…" Shepard warned.

"Five!"

Garrus risked a glance into the hallway, looking left, then right. "It's empty," he reported. "Nothing there!"

Joker disagreed. "I'm telling you they're right there! Four meters!"

No sounds came from the corridor; no sign of movement. All was dead-calm.

"_Three meters!_"

"Impossible, that's in the room!" Kaidan yelled.

"_Two! They're right on top of you!_"

_Right on top…_

As one Shepard, Garrus, and Kaidan swung their lights upward, illuminating the shadowy ceiling.

_Oh f—_

A swarm of shining black creatures was pouring from an open vent in the ceiling, crawling stealthily down the walls. Long tails coiled and curled behind them; silver teeth glinted in the light; thick ropes of slime drooled from their mouths. They hadn't made a single sound.

Shepard squeezed the trigger.

The roar of gunfire filled the room, mingling with nightmarish screeches. Garrus and Kaidan opened fire. Muzzle flashes illuminated the darkness with a strobe effect. Black carapaces and elongated heads exploded, spraying sickly-green gore. Where it splattered the walls began to smoke and fizzle; _they had acid for blood._

More and more of them poured from the ceiling. Gunfire did nothing to stem the black tide. Shepard seized Liara by the arm, hauling the asari to her feet. He turned to the others.

"_We are leaving!_"

They tumbled from the room. Shepard shoved Liara forward. "Go!" he shouted to the others, then turned to the door. A segmented tail lashed at him; he ducked, feeling a sting as it grazed his cheek. Taking aim he fired- not at the creature but the control pad next to the door. It shattered and sparked; the door slammed shut, crunching the monster's tail. Immediately the metal began to smoke and melt from the blood; soon there would be nothing of the door left.

"Which way?!" Garrus yelled over the creatures' muffled shrieks. Shepard turned toward the stairs- and saw _more_ of them pouring into the hallway, crawling on the walls and ceiling with terrifying speed.

"_Move!_" Shepard bellowed, herding the others in the opposite direction. They sprinted down the corridor, Garrus and Kaidan in front, Liara behind them, and Shepard covering their rear. He kept his finger on the trigger, not bothering to take proper aim, only hoping to slow down the pursuing flood of monsters. Joker was yelling something in his ear, but the message was lost in the chaos. Occasionally Kaidan and Garrus opened fire as air vents burst open in their path, exposing a hissing head.

They hurled around a corner and pounded down the hall. Shepard ceased fire, not wanting to waste ammo, and ran full-out with the others, pushing Liara ahead. They passed several doors but didn't dare take the time to try and open them. Then−

"Shit!" The corridor ended in a closed door; an elevator, by the looks of it. They stumbled to a halt.

"Get that door open!" Shepard commanded; Garrus and Kaidan immediately attacked it. He turned to lay down some cover fire- when the floor grates erupted beneath him. He went flying and landed sprawling on his stomach. Quickly he rolled onto his back- a monstrous black shape rose from the floor, emitting a venomous hissing. It lunged at him; Shepard swung his foot, connecting with the alien's head. It was like kicking a steel wall.

A sudden blue wave exploded down the hallway as Kaidan unleashed a biotic blast. The alien was thrown back into the surging black wave mere feet from them.

Shepard scrambled to his feet in time to see Garrus pry the elevator doors open. He could practically feel hot breath on his neck. Without a word he charged them, shoving everyone through the door.

"_No, wai−!"_

But it was too late. They fell through the door- and kept falling, through darkness, _down_ the empty shaft. Shepard tried to clutch at cables, a ledge, anything, but only gripped air. Then-

_Splash!_

They suddenly found themselves submerged in cold, dark water. Shepard couldn't tell which way was up. Something struck his head. Dark shapes thrashed in the water. Something grabbed him–

And hauled him to the surface. He coughed and hacked, spraying water from his lungs. A pale light illuminated Kaidan's face in front of him.

"Elevator shaft's flooded!" Kaidan spluttered. "Must be a coolant leak!"

"Did they follow us?"

Kaidan shined his light up the long shaft. There were no shapes crawling down the walls. No movement at all. For the moment, they seemed safe.

Shepard took the time to gather his bearings. To his left was a closed door about three feet above him. Garrus was treading water near it. Thick cables trailed down into the water, presumably attaching to the floor several feet beneath.

Shepard turned about. "Liara, are you−"

She wasn't there. Shepard kept rotating, shining the light all around. She wasn't anywhere.

"_Where's Liara?_"

Garrus and Kaidan stared at him, horrified.

"_Liara!_" Shepard dove beneath the water, swimming all the way to the bottom. He probed the darkness with the beam of light- but it revealed nothing.

She was gone.


	4. Chapter 4

**4**

**The Stowaways, Part 1**

_The Omega Nebula, Terminus Systems_

_The Bridge, SSV Normandy_

Every single crew member stood frozen at their stations, listening in horror to the chaos that came over the ship's PA system. The staccato of gunfire echoed throughout the halls, so loud the firefight could be taking place in the _Normandy_ herself. Voices were also mixed into the cacophony, shouting, unintelligible. The worst part, however, was the high-pitched, maddening shrieks that pierced through the noise. They drilled into the ears and caused the hairs of every crew member who had hairs to stand on end.

Joker sat in the pilot's chair, clutching the arm rests, knuckles white. He had given up on trying to reach Shepard; all he could do was sit helplessly and watch the feed from the Commander's suit-cam. Not that it did him any good; all he could make out were star-burst flashes of gunfire and odd, fast moving black shapes. The projected map hovering to his right was useless as well. The blue dots representing Shepard, Kaidan, Garrus, and Liara were all but overrun by a mass of red.

_This is not good._

A massive clawed hand clutched the back of the chair, inches from Joker's head. He yelped, nearly leaping to his feet despite his brittle bones– but it was only Wrex. The krogan stood behind him, face grim, as he watched the chaotic video feed.

"What the hell is going on over there?" he muttered. Joker could only shake his head.

Suddenly the comms fell silent. All that could be heard was a rushing sound, as if someone was blowing into the mike.

"Look!" Wrex pointed to the map. Three blue dots were now visible, moving rapidly away from the red wave. Rapidly _down_ what looked to be a long shaft.

Joker's stomach plummeted as fast as the dots. "Oh, shi–"

The expletive was interrupted by an explosion of static. Everyone on the bridge jumped, including Wrex. The blue dots had come to a halt. Joker quickly turned to the video display– it was dark. Silence filled the bridge.

"Commander, can you hear me?" Joker half-whispered. No response.

"Come in, Commander, this is Joker, do you read me?"

Joker glanced up at Wrex. The krogan's face remained blank.

His stomach full of lead, Joker licked his lips and tried again. "Commander, pleas–"

Again the entire crew jumped as the PA flared to life. Hacking, coughing sounds came through the ship's speakers, scratchy and full of static.

"_Elevator shaft's flooded! Must be a coolant leak!"_

The voice was Kaidan's. Relief flooded through Joker. At least someone was alive.

"_Did they follow us?"_

Shepard this time. He sounded winded, but alive all the same. Joker opened the comms channel and was about to berate the Commander for scaring the whole crew, but Shepard interrupted him.

"_Liara, are you− Where's Liara?"_

Out of the corner of his eye, Joker saw Wrex tighten his grip on the back of the chair. Joker turned to the map, a feeling of dread settling on him once more. Three clustered blue dots pulsed slowly. Only three.

"Oh, no," he whispered.

"Damn," Wrex growled.

Shepard's anguished shouts echoed through the bridge.

_Storage Bay_

Warrant officer Charlie Edmund slowly wandered across the darkened bay. He was the only person on this level, but that suited him just fine at the moment. What he had heard over the PA had shaken Charlie just as much as the rest of the crew, but he preferred to mourn alone.

_Not mourn, 'cause she's not dead. You don't know that._

Charlie shook his head. No, he didn't know if Dr. T'Soni was dead or not. But it was looking more and more likely. She wasn't with the Commander, and Joker couldn't find her on the map, and…

Charlie's eyes stung. He wiped them, and was a bit surprised to find his fist wet with tears. He was never really the sensitive type, and he knew he'd never live it down if he was found bawling in the storage bay, but… well, the truth was he'd been crushing on Dr. T'Soni like a green cadet since the Commander first rescued her from Therum. A schoolboy's crush, maybe, but still…

"Don't be an idiot," he muttered to himself in the dark. "She's with the Commander."

_Yeah. And if anyone can find her, it's Commander Shepard._

Shaking himself, mentally and physically, Charlie began to walk at a normal pace. It would do no good to anyone if he moped around. He had a job to do. Maybe not the most exciting or useful one, but still a job. Besides, bringing home an asari wouldn't go over too well with the family. Charlie's father was very pro-human.

He navigated through stacked crates, past the stationary Mako, and into a shadowy corner. There he knelt and activated his small light, illuminating a closed trap door. Seizing the handle, he hauled it open, revealing a narrow shaft descending into dull, red light. He gagged almost immediately. An awful smell wafted up from the small sub-level, worse than anything he had ever experienced. It smelled like…

"Oh, wonderful," he muttered through his arm. "Just great." The holding tank must have sprung a leak. Knowing his luck, the whole room was flooded with several feet of raw sewage. How could this day get any worse?

Taking a deep breath, Charlie stepped onto the ladder and began to climb down. The smell grew even worse, making his eyes burn. He stared at the ladder as he went– he'd really rather not see the mess until he absolutely had to.

It was a slight relief when he stepped onto solid ground. At least the floor was dry. Steeling himself, Charlie turned around– and his jaw dropped. A gaping hole, easily four feet across, yawned in the middle of the floor. The thick metal paneling was bent upwards, as though something in the holding tank had burst out. Some sort of gas explosion?

Cautiously Charlie approached the opening and leaned over, staring down into the darkness. He could see nothing, even in the glow of the red lighting, but a fresh wave of a not-so-fresh nature hit him. He quickly reeled back, covering his face once more. What the hell had happened here?

He circled around the hole to where the control console stood in front of a mass of pipes that extended back into darkness. He tapped the console, but it remained lifeless. Whatever happened must have caused a short.

A sudden hiss burst from the pipes. Charlie stumbled back, only just catching himself before he plummeted through the floor behind him. He had heard those pipes hiss plenty, but nothing like that. One of them must have ruptured, too. As he moved to approach them for a better look, his foot stuck to the floor slightly. He lifted it, and thick strands of a translucent slime stretched from the bottom of his boot to a puddle of the stuff. Charlie grimaced. He didn't even want to think of what _that_ could be.

A flash of motion from the pipes, a dull thud and brief burst of pain in his chest, and suddenly Charlie found himself lifted off his feet, hanging over the hole. Hanging from– well, he didn't really know _what_. Charlie's brain seemed to have slowed down. All he could feel was not-quite uncomfortable warmth in his belly. Looking down, he saw a reddish-pink mass of coiled _somethings_ spilling from a rip in his shirt, tangled around a long, thick black appendage that seemed to be attached to the pipes.

_Intestines. Those are my guts hanging out of me._

Yes, Charlie realized this quite clearly, and with surprisingly little fear. But the real question was, what– just _what_ in the hell was this other thing? It appeared to be segmented, constructed out of large black vertebrae, and as Charlie examined it, it waved and undulated like a snake. Slowly the appendage drew him in, closer to the pipes– and the hissing. Whatever that was, Charlie now knew it wasn't from the pipes.

The appendage (a _tail_, that's what it is) stopped inches from the mass of pipes, curved into an "S", with Charlie hung on the end like a hat on a hook (an idea that brought a weak, gurgling chuckle from his skewered stomach). Then one of the pipes moved, rearing up to look at him, and for the first time since this whole crazy business began, Charlie was afraid. Because it had no eyes, whatever this thing was, it had _no fucking eyes_, but it could see him, oh yes, Charlie could feel it looking at him, _into_ him, and it was the worst (and last) feeling of his life.

Long arms reached out, massive clawed hands clutched his face, almost gently, and it finally occurred to Charlie to scream, before his head was ripped from his spine, and his life came to an abrupt end.

_Elevator Shaft, USS Sulaco_

"I've looked everywhere, Commander, but I… I just don't see her."

Joker's announcement was met by silence, save the soft lapping of water against the shaft walls. Kaidan sat on the edge of a narrow lip that ran around the perimeter, legs dangling into the pool, clutching his rifle. Across from him, two glowing orbs of harsh light in the inky darkness marked the positions of Shepard and Garrus, seated by a closed door.

"Commander?" Joker spoke softly, hesitant. Kaidan didn't blame him. After realizing that Liara was missing, Shepard had nearly gone nuclear. Now he sat silently, one hand to his forehead, the other loosely holding his gun. In hindsight, Kaidan preferred the nuclear Shepard. At least he had seemed alive.

"Commander, did you–"

"I heard you, Joker." He didn't shout, but there was a sharpness to his tone that caused Kaidan and Garrus to flinch. "We'll just have to find her ourselves."

"I'm with you there, Commander," Kaidan said softly, "but first we need to get out of this elevator shaft."

Shepard looked up at him. Again Kaidan flinched. He realized what he had said– it was really because of Shepard that they were down here. And it sounded like he was accusing the Commander of leaving Liara behind. Kaidan opened his mouth to apologize, but Shepard beat him to it.

"You're right. Joker, you need to be our eyes. The water's ruined out omnitools, so no map."

"Got it Commander." Joker sounded relieved to be given an order. "But I can't see anything from your end; the suit-cams were screwed, too."

Shepard shrugged (not that Joker could hear it) and turned to the large door behind him. "You can see us on the map. What's through this door?"

There was a moment of silence as the pilot examined the map. Then, "You're about three-fourths of the way down the ship. That door opens into a large storage area, which opens into another, and another, and… well, you get the idea. After the third room there's another elevator. Hopefully it's in better condition."

Shepard took a deep breath, running a hand through his wet hair. "Ok. We get this door open, then look for Liara."

Garrus spoke up for the first time since their fall. "Where?"

No one spoke. Kaidan watched the Commander. His brow was furrowed, but his eyes unreadable. Suddenly Kaidan could see the man Shepard had been forced to become during the horrors of Akuze. It instilled new hope in him– if anyone could get them out of this…

"Liara knew," Shepard muttered, maybe to himself. He looked up at Kaidan and Garrus. "Liara knew." He said it louder, with more conviction. "Before we came onto this ship, she knew– had a feeling something wasn't right. And that egg…"

"How could she?" Garrus asked. Shepard just shook his head.

"I don't know. She's not here right now, but she may still be able to help us. Joker!"

"Yes, Commander!"

"Search Liara's office and quarters, look for anything that might seem important. She knew something."

"Aye, aye, Commander." With that he was gone.

Shepard slipped off the ledge, splashing into the dark water. "Let's get this door open."

_The Omega Nebula, Terminus Systems_

_The Void_

Tali was dead, she was sure of it. She couldn't see anything, couldn't feel anything. Her brain was jumbled and foggy, and any movement felt exaggerated one thousand fold. Her breathing, ragged and shallow, filled her ears, the only sound inside her helmet.

_What happened?_

Slowly she raised an arm to her head. The motion sent her spinning counter-clockwise through the darkness. A wave of nausea swept over her, but she suppressed it. Even if she was dead, she didn't want to puke into her face mask.

Gently she ran a hand over her face mask, down her neck, and over her torso. Her body appeared to still be there, so maybe she _wasn't_ dead. Or maybe the afterlife was different from what she had expected.

_Turians._

The thought was unexpected, and completely out of place. Why should she be thinking of turians right now?

_Salvage ship. Shepard. Danger._

They came more as simple words than cohesive thoughts, yet they caused something to stir in her brain. Something… something was wrong. Something had happened.

_Monsters._

"_Keelah!_" she yelled. Everything came back in a rush: the old human ship, the turian frigate, the computer logs. And those… _things._ Everywhere, swarming through the ship. _Both_ ships. She had nearly died. In fact… why hadn't she died?

_I… I escaped somehow. A rupture or something… in the hull. What…?_

"Oh…no!" Tali thrashed around, sending herself spinning through space. Because that was where she was. She now remembered her narrow escape through the air lock. But she hadn't escaped, not really.

_Where is the Normandy?_

She could see only darkness, and a wide scattering of tiny pin points of light. Everywhere she looked was nothing, and it stretched on forever. She was lost.

_Ok, girl, calm down. Your suit has a radio. Just contact Joker and he can pick you up!_

Right. Except…

A red light was steadily blinking in the upper right corner of her face mask's HUD. With each pulse her heart sank a bit further. Because she knew what that light meant.

_Life-support is low. _Very_ low. Joker might not make it in time._

"_Keelah._" This time, it was more of a whimper than a curse.


	5. Chapter 5

**5**

**The Stowaways, Part 2**

_**Deep within the USS Sulaco**_

_You mean more to me than you could ever know. I promise you, whatever happens, you'll be safe. I mean that._

_I know, Shepard. You mean a great deal to me as well. I… I love you._

_Soon you will be reborn._

_What?_

_Your flesh will give life to my children._

_Shepard, what–? No. Wait… you're not… who are…_

_Soon you will die._

Liara awoke with a gasp, inhaling a lungful of moist, humid air. It caused her to retch, her stomach heaving to expel little more than bile. Her eyes stung, tears welling up beneath her closed lids. She tried to wipe her mouth– but her hands wouldn't move. In fact, she couldn't move anything.

She opened her eyes, and saw nothing. Thick blackness pressed against them, impenetrable, no matter how hard she tried. She couldn't see and she couldn't move, and she could barely breathe because of the thickness of the air. Petrifying claustrophobia swooped down on her like a predator with alarming speed. Her chest tightened and her breath began to quicken. Soon she would panic, and then all would be lost. Somehow she knew this. She must remain absolutely still, or else…

_Or else something very bad will happen. That's all I know._

Very slowly, moving a fraction of an inch at a time, she curled her right hand down towards the wrist. There she felt some sort of material binding her. Something smooth, glassy, yet also brittle. She tried to raise her torso, again, slowly, but met resistance. Presumably from the same substance.

_Ok. Analyze the data and formulate a logical hypothesis._

This detached, scientific way of thinking helped to calm her. She took a deep breath of the wet air and closed her eyes (they did her no good anyways).

_We were being attacked. I remember that much. Attacked by…those things. From my dream. Vision. Or whatever it was. _

She had fallen behind, been overrun. Liara began to curse her own ineptitude, but cut herself short. It would do no good right now. The point was, she was still alive. For some reason, the creatures had not killed her. Why?

_In my experience, animals only keep prey alive for two reasons: to feed, or to become a host for their own parasitic offspring._

She looked forward to neither prospect. Somehow she needed to escape before she was eaten or turned into a living incubator… if she hadn't been already. She opened her eyes once more, and once more she was greeted only by the Stygian darkness. Except…

Directly ahead, her eyes now somewhat adjusted to the gloom, she perceived the dullest flicker of light, emanating from what looked to be a tunnel. A cool blue, so faint it was practically nonexistent, but it provided her with a shadow-image of her surroundings– enough to operate by, for now. She was in a large room– or was it a cave? The walls were so irregular; she could scarcely believe they were man-made. They curved out around her with no visible corners. Liara felt rather than saw that she was hanging from at least half-way up a wall, stuck to it by the same resin that bound her hands, legs, and torso. She also seemed to be at an angle; at least, her head hung forward when she let her neck go limp. What was beneath her she couldn't tell; the ground was nothing more than a dark void.

_Well. I can't hang around here all day. Ha ha._

_You've picked a fine time to develop a sense of humor._

The fact that she was talking to– and answering– herself told Liara that it was time to get out of here. Very carefully, trying to make as little noise as possible, she began to wiggle her body back and forth, while straining slightly against her bonds. With time she would break free of the brittle substance. At least, that was the plan. Then she would slide down the wall– and figure out what to do next from there.

She had no way of knowing how much time passed as she worked, but gradually she could move her body more and more. She began sag from the wall, the secreted supports digging into her arms. In a few moments she would break free…

Then she heard it. A thick, wet, squelching sound from somewhere below her. It sounded like something horrible peeling its sticky lips apart. Liara froze, her breath catching in her chest. Now an unsettling squirming met her ears, as well as the small whip-like sounds of something thrashing through the air.

_Oh, goddess, no. No…_

All at once she flashed back to the large leathery sacks they had found in the cargo bay. The eggs. Something had hatched from them. Something that had given birth to a hoard of those monsters.

_Parasitic offspring. A need for a host. A live host._

Liara heard multiple legs scratching against the wall beneath her dangling feet. Something was scuttling up towards her. And somehow she sensed it, perhaps even saw it, even in the low light: large, pale, fleshy, with eight long, finger-like legs and a long tail whipping behind it. It looked like the most horrifying spider ever conceived. And it was coming right towards her.

Liara felt its legs on her own as it began to climb her body, and then she lost it. She let out a throat-tearing scream of fear and disgust. A blue aura emanated from her like a mist, illuminating the thing on her leg. Except now it was on her stomach, coming towards her face, preparing to leap. With another cry she let loose a powerful blast of pent up biotic energy, fueled by her own emotions. The spider-thing flew off her, disintegrating as it went, and then Liara was falling, sliding down the wall, until she hit the ground with a _crack_ and came to a stop.

She lay curled, her knees to her chest, clutching one leg that was almost certainly broken. Tears streamed down her face from the pain and horror of it all. And then she heard that awful peeling sound.

And then she heard it again. And again.

Slowly Liara raised her head. In the light of her biotic aura she could see the room more clearly. It looked like it had been decorated by a madman whose idea of interior design was to fling black entrails over everything. Dark tubular structures wound and twisted around the room, giving the place an unsettlingly organic look. There were also bodies hanging from the walls; human, turian, asari. All dead, their chests now gaping holes, ribcages spread wide open. The worst part, however, was the floor where she lay, just beneath a thin layer of mist. Surrounding her on all sides were large, leathery eggs. And they were opening.

_**Med-Lab, SSV Normandy**_

Grace Chakwas didn't like rooting through Dr. T'Soni's things. No matter what Mr. Moreau said, or how imperative it was to the Commander, it felt too much like looting a grave to her.

Not that she was convinced of Dr. T'Soni's death. The asari, despite her age and relative inexperience, was as intelligent, resilient, and dangerous as any she had ever known. Perhaps even more so. She had seen Dr. T'Soni clear out an entire room of mercenaries with one biotic blast before the Commander could so much as ready his weapon. But the simple fact of the matter was, whatever those things were that had overrun the _Sulaco_, they had put the Commander on the run. And that was never a good thing.

But if searching through her things would help the Commander find Dr. T'Soni, then Grace would gladly do it. God knows the galaxy couldn't afford to lose any more scientists. She flicked on the desktop lamp as she stepped into Dr. T'Soni's office. The low light seemed to do little to drive away the shadows, and again Grace was struck by how small (she tried not to think "tomb-like") the asari's quarters were. Dr. T'Soni had been a critical element in defeating the Reaper, Sovereign; one would think she could at least be rewarded with a larger room. But never mind. Time was crucial in this situation, so she had better start looking.

In her own experience any scientist worth their own salt was hardly more organized than a pack of varren, never bothering to file anything in their own office. Grace was banking on the assumption that Dr. T'Soni, for all her properness, was much the same. She started her search near the small, uncomfortable-looking bed– if she had a bed in her lab, she would certainly do most of her research lounging on it. This quickly proved pointless; any documents near the bed were neatly arranged on a small nearby table (the bed itself was also neatly made). Grace felt a twinge of annoyance. Why must young scientists strive to be so by-the-numbers?

She continued her search, working around the room, checking all the shelves, quickly uploading every OSD she found to her own omni-tool. So far nothing seemed even remotely related to what was happening aboard the _Sulaco_. Grace couldn't understand why the Commander thought Dr. T'Soni knew anything about those creatures, anyway. She was bright, but not psychic, despite all her natural biotic talent. Perhaps the Commander was simply viewing his favorite asari through rose-tinted combat optics.

Having searched the entire room she finally came to the work desk. The shelving above it was stuffed with specimen jars and binders of data, none of which were useful. She checked the drawers– and finally found something promising. Carefully she extracted some complicated-looking headgear, making sure she didn't damage it. She tried to sort through the tangle of wiring (finally a sign of disorder in Dr. T'Soni's quarters) but could make neither head nor tails of the device. It was clearly crafted specifically for an asari skull, and might even be the young Dr. T'Soni's own design, but what it was or how it worked, Grace didn't have a clue.

She moved to place it back into the desk, trying to resist the disappointment that was settling over her, when she paused. Something else was in the large drawer, shoved towards the back where she had missed it. Feeling a new flicker of hope she reached in and withdrew the data pad, noting an amber light that pulsed slowly in one corner. The pad was on stand-by mode, suggesting it had been used recently. Quickly she powered it up. A list of recordings scrolled down the screen. The time stamp next to the topmost recording marked it as the most recent, having been made a few hours ago.

Grace selected and played the recording. As Dr. T'Soni's voice dictated from the tiny speakers, Grace felt first confusion, then revulsion at what she saw. The monster on screen was more horrifying than anything she could have imagined. And, somehow, Dr. T'Soni had seen one in a dream, mere hours before they found the _Sulaco_. She didn't know what it all meant, but the data had to be worth something.

Grace stowed the data pad and rose to her feet. As she moved towards the office door, she heard the first scream.

_**The Bridge**_

Joker was sitting in the cockpit, dutifully monitoring the _Normandy's_ various systems, when someone began to swear loudly at him over the comms channel. It took him a moment to recognize the accent.

"_Joker, you vorcha-loving bosh'tet, do you read me?"_

Surprise overcame his annoyance at being called…well, whatever he had just been called. "_Tali?_ Is that you?"

"_Keelah!"_ The relief was evident in her voice, as well as what Joker thought might be fear._ "Finally, I've been trying to get through for hours. My suit's communication system was all scrambled and it's starting to ice over, and–"_

"Tali!" Joker cut her off mid-tirade. "Tali, where are you? Are you with the Commander?"

"_No, I stayed behind on the turian frigate, but–"_

"You're on the frigate?" Relief flooded through him. It would be easy to get her back on the _Normandy_, and Joker would feel like he was accomplishing something if someone from the boarding party came home. "Hang on, I'll–''

"_No, listen, I'm not on the frigate!"_

Joker froze. "You're not on the _Sulaco_, are you?"

"_No, I'm–"_

"Well then where are you?"

Tali exploded over the radio. _"Shut up and let me tell you! I'm floating somewhere in the middle of space right now!"_

Joker did shut up, if only for a moment. "What are you doing out there?" he asked, rather lamely.

Tali sighed, a breath of static over the radio. _"No time to explain that now. My suit's life-support is running low."_

"How long do you have?"

"_An hour, maybe less. You have to pick me up."_

Joker gripped the flight controls, his face determined. He would not lose any more of the crew. "Right. Just tell me where you are."

Tali replied, sounding ponderous. _"Hmmm… well, if you look for the cluster of white stars, you should find me."_

"What?"

"_How should I know where I am? It's space, everything looks the same! Just use my suit's IFF signal and find me!"_

Joker cringed away from the speakers, difficult to do considering they were on all sides of the cockpit. He was really growing tired of being shouted at. "All right, all right, just sit tight…"

He told the ship's systems to locate Tali's signal. With a _bing_ the computer found it almost immediately, displaying her coordinates. Joker was just about to set the _Normandy_ in her direction when a klaxon began to blare throughout the bridge, red emergency lights strobing. Bewildered, he spun around in his chair. Judging by the reactions of the rest of the crew, they were asking the same questions he was: Who had set off the alarm? And how could this day get any worse?

Moments later both his questions were answered as Dr. Chakwas came over the PA. Joker had never heard her sound so terrified.

"_Attention all crew! Get to the conference room immediately and seal the doors! We have an intruder aboard the Normandy!"_

The rest of her message was drowned out by screams and a roaring screech Joker knew all too well by now.

_**Deep within the USS Sulaco**_

Liara's biotic glow illuminated everything with horrifying clarity. The three eggs closest to her opened, their tops peeling back like obscene flowers. Something stirred within, and a moment later three pale spider-like creatures scurried down the sides and onto the floor, mere feet from her. Overwhelmed with fear and pain from her broken leg, she couldn't move a muscle.

But the parasites didn't move either. They stood for a moment on their bony legs, tails restlessly sweeping behind them. Then, almost cautiously, they inched forward, spreading out like a search party. Liara noticed that these too seemed to lack eyes, with only what looked like a gaping red sore where the head should have been. They couldn't see her, but she was almost positive they would find her.

As they drew closer, long proboscises extended from the underside of their bodies and probed the floor ahead of them, feeling for her. Liara shuddered in revulsion, the sight breaking her paralysis. She reached for her side-arm; if she was quick enough she could take them out, hopefully without alerting the other eggs. But the holster was empty. All her weapons, even her omni tool, were gone. She supposed she should have expected that.

A proboscis nearly brushed her face. Stifling a gasp she drew away– and almost placed her hand on one of the other spiders. She froze, sitting, one hand behind her, the other hovering over the creature. It continued towards her, proboscis searching. Slowly, not daring to make a sound, she raised up off the ground, propping herself up on one hand and her good leg.

The creature passed beneath her.

The first one was nearing her bad leg, which she held just inches from the floor. If it came any closer it would feel her. Gritting her teeth, Liara raised her leg slowly. Pain shot through her as broken bones ground like glass, but she drove it away as this spider also passed her by.

Now there was only one left. It crawled towards the one foot she had on the ground. If she moved it, she would fall on her injured leg, surely eliciting some sort of noise. There was only one way she could escape unnoticed, and she wasn't sure she had it in her. The creature practically upon her, Liara pushed off with her foot and extended her arms, bending backwards. She now stood on her hands, balanced precariously above the creatures as well as countless eggs.

The final spider moved at an agonizing pace. It came to a stop where she had sat moments ago. Liara bit her lip, desperately trying to maintain her balance. If it came towards her hands she was done for.

Then, apparently losing interest, it moved on, away from her and deeper into the nest. Liara forced herself to wait a few more seconds, then slowly lowered herself back to the ground. She now stood on one leg, surrounded by eggs, each a potential proximity mine.

_I never knew I was so flexible. If I ever get through this I swear I'll show Shepard._

She took deep, calming breaths. She had to get out of here, and fast. Who knows what else might come looking for her? Very carefully she began maneuvering through the clutch of eggs, towards the tunnel opening on the far side of the room, her biotic aura lighting the way. As she went, it occurred to her that she could have simply vaporized the little bastards, gun or not. But that first blast had taken a lot out of her; it was difficult just to maintain this small biotic output, and she didn't want to sacrifice the light.

As she came to the wall, she stumbled and fell against it. She looked back toward the eggs, worried the noise might alert more spiders. But nothing stirred. Leaning against the wall, she looked to the mouth of the tunnel above her. It was only a foot over her head, but with a bad leg it may as well have been miles. She stood on the toes of her one useable foot and reached up into the tunnel. She found hand-holds almost immediately, thanks to the irregular resin that coated everything. With barely a grunt but great difficulty she hauled herself up into the tunnel, where she lay on her back, resting for a moment.

As she lay there, she realized how desperate her situation was. She was somewhere deep within an unfamiliar ship the size of a large colony, in the middle of a hostile alien hive, injured, with no weapons, a busted comms unit, and no idea which way was up. She didn't even know if Shepard and the others were still alive.

_Of course they are. And thinking like this won't get you back to the Normandy._

Summoning her resolve, Liara rolled onto her stomach and forced herself to get up. The tunnel was wide, more oval than circular, and sloped gently upward into the gloom. Here too the strange black resin covered all surfaces. She limped over to the right side of the tunnel and slowly began her ascent. As she went, the faint light she had noticed earlier grew stronger. When she came upon it, she found the source to be a blank computer screen, partially obscured by resin. Now that she looked, she could see glimpses of the ship's hull beneath the resin. She wondered how much of the _Sulaco_ had been converted into this hive.

She turned to continue her climb and saw a large shape scrambling along the ceiling, down the tunnel, towards her. Immediately Liara dropped to the floor where she tucked herself into a small cavity in the resin. She held her breath as the creature came closer, until it was revealed in the light of the computer terminal.

Even after her recorded dream she was not fully prepared for seeing an adult alien this close. It dropped to the floor and stood several feet from her on two long, slim legs. It crouched to the ground, onto its forearms, long tail swirling hypnotically behind it. Its elongated head swiveled around on a neck that seemed far too thin to support it. Lips peeled back to reveal a silver grin, slime and drool dripping from its jaws. There was something very perverse about it all.

In the few moments that Liara saw it, she could not help but notice that it appeared to be a different variation of what she had seen so far. Its skin, instead of jet black, glinted silver in the low light. Its limbs seemed longer, sleeker, and it only had three clawed fingers on each hand. Its hips also flared out more than what she was accustomed to. But the skull was where the main difference was. While still grotesquely long, it too seemed more streamlined, almost triangular. It narrowed to a point in the back, and its jaw was flanked by wing-like mandible structures. It also appeared to have two small crests running along the top of its head. Liara didn't know the purpose of these differences, but she sensed they were important.

She took all this in within a second after the alien dropped to the floor next to her, and it did nothing for her fear. She held her breath as it looked around, its eyeless skull moving slowly. It swiveled in her direction– she held back a gasp– and kept moving, until it was looking back over its shoulder. Then, with a snap of its tail, it leapt to the ceiling and continued back the way she had already come.

Liara could hardly believe her luck. Twice now these creatures had failed to detect her. Were they simply that dull? Somehow she didn't think so, but then what was the answer? As she lay in her niche, wondering, she caught sight of her own arm, sheathed in rippling blue light. And suddenly she had an idea.

Ever since the first spider-thing touched her she had been emitting low levels of biotic energy. Even now, with an alien so close, she had completely forgotten to switch off. Her own glow should have given her away, yet it hadn't. And Liara thought she knew why.

She knew that many predators throughout the galaxy hunted by sensing the bio-electricity that every living body produces. On Shepard's home world, sharks could detect stationary prey in pitch-black waters by homing in on their aura. Liara thought maybe these aliens "saw" in the same way. Normally it would be an advantage; after all, no one can turn of their aura.

_But can they hide it?_

Was it possible that the biotic energy her body was producing masked her own natural aura, effectively making her invisible to these creatures? Liara wasn't sure. She did not know the particulars of the properties of biotic energy, but it was as good a guess as any. These creatures seemed to be blind to it.

Crawling out of her hiding spot, Liara realized this was both a blessing and a curse. Because while she may be invisible to the aliens, she could not keep producing a biotic field forever, even such a low one. Already she was starting to feel the drain. And she had no idea how much further she had to go through this hellish maze.


	6. Chapter 6

**6**

**The Hunt, Part 1**

_**Elevator 2-B, USS Sulaco**_

"_Shut the damn door!_"

Garrus drove his boot into the hissing face that was forcing its way between the closing elevator doors. It screeched and withdrew, only to have another take its place.

"_Force 'em back!_" Shepard shouted, his rifle pointed through the narrow opening, spraying the large storage room with incendiary rounds.

Kaidan drew his shotgun and forced it between the intruder's snarling jaws. "Eat this!" he snarled and pulled the trigger. The top of the alien's skull blew open, spraying corrosive blood onto the door. Immediately it began to burn through the metal, even as the doors closed. Without a second thought Shepard slapped the console and the small cubicle began to descend.

The three survivors slumped against the walls, panting after their narrow escape. And it had been narrow. No sooner had they entered the first cavernous storage room, shaped like a long octagonal tube laid on its side, than countless aliens had swarmed out of the honeycomb-like openings that dotted the walls and ceiling. What had followed was a mad dash through two more identical rooms, the creatures hot on their tail, before finally making it into the elevator. And now…

"Does anyone," Kaidan said in a horse voice, "have any idea where we're going?"

In response Shepard put a finger to his ear. "Joker, do you read me?"

The only answer was a hiss of static…or _was_ it static?

_No way. _Shepard squashed that idea. _They couldn't have gotten onto the Normandy._

"Looks like we're on our own," he told the others. Garrus thumped his head back against the wall. Kaidan simply looked grim.

"Shepard," Garrus said in a forcedly patient voice. "I want to find Liara as much as you do, but we don't even have a map, or any idea of where those things might have taken her." He fixed the Commander with a beady stare. "_Where are we going?_"

For a moment Shepard was silent. He could feel Kaidan watching him as well, hoping for an answer, a plan. Everything seemed to be slipping further out of his control. Liara taken, no contact with the _Normandy_, no way of knowing where they were going…

He glanced at the elevator's floor display, the numbers slowly descending, until they were preceded by the letters "SL."

_Sub-Level._

Shepard slammed the stop button, bringing the metal box to a jarring halt at "SL-1". He got to his feet, rifle in hand. As the doors opened onto a thick darkness, he raised his rifle and said, "We're going hunting."

_**Engineering and Storage Deck, SSV Normandy**_

Red light strobed in the darkness, casting the large storage deck into sharp relief before plunging it back into shadow. The alarm was silent. It had stopped some time ago, either turned off or damaged. But the danger had not passed. While most of the crew had made it into the conference room before sealing the doors, not all had survived. Two had simply disappeared.

And some had better things to do than hide.

Wrex stood before his locker, assembling a custom weapon. Although his back was turned to the large space, he was by no means vulnerable. All his senses were on high alert, attuned to the slightest noise, the faintest scent. It would be very difficult for anything to sneak up on him.

_Just try it, you bastard._

He had been kicking himself for staying behind ever since things went south on the _Sulaco_. Shepard was in trouble, faced with some unknown, supposedly unstoppable enemy, and here he had been lounging on the _Normandy_ like some lazy salarian scientist. He had been ready to jump ship when, finally_,_ things had gotten interesting.

Wrex screwed the last piece into place and checked the finished product. Not a bad piece of craftsmanship, for a krogan. He turned a valve, igniting a small blue flame at the end of a nozzle. He loaded several large metal slugs into a second chamber and flicked a switch near the stock of the gun. A small screen, resembling a radar display, folded open on the right side. For now the screen was empty. Wrex hoped that would change soon.

Turning to face the room, he inhaled deeply. His olfactory glands flooded with all the ship's familiar smells– and one foreign one. It was oily, sleek, somehow invading his senses the way no normal smell should. He followed it into a dark corner, behind the hulk of the Mako, where a trap door gaped in the floor. The scent was wafting from the opening, but it was faint. The intruder had come this way.

Wrex kneeled, gingerly touching a shining puddle of… something. It stuck to his hand like glue.

_Messy son of a bitch…_

He stood and turned. The scent trail led away, growing stronger as it went. He followed it up to the second deck, but there it was lost. Smells Wrex was all too familiar with overwhelmed that of the intruder: fear, adrenaline… and blood. The mess was a literal mess. It looked like someone had bled out on the table, the blood black as pitch in the red light. Chairs were overturned, half-eaten meals spread across the floor. But the deck seemed empty.

_Ting._

A blip appeared on the small radar screen. Someone–or something– was here after all. The reading was coming from the aft of the ship; Wrex moved slowly towards it, making no sound despite his immense frame. He deftly maneuvered between the chairs and avoided the sticky blood, invisible in the darkness to anyone but an experienced krogan hunter.

_Ting-ting._

The signal grew stronger, the shrill bleeps rising in volume and frequency. Wrex steadied his breathing, readjusting his grip on the weapon to compensate for recoil.

_Ting-ting-ting._

His blood began to rise in anticipation, but Wrex focused, keeping the blood lust under control. To go into a frenzy could mean his own death.

_Ting-ting-ting-ting._

He was practically on top of it; Wrex stood before the walkway running into the darkness at the rear of the ship, lined on both sides by darkened sleeper pods. A green light on their consoles indicated they were all empty. All except one.

_Inside._

Wrex hefted his weapon to his shoulder, aiming down the sights. In two swift strides he stood before the pod, a small blue light betraying its occupant. One steadying breath – then with a single massive paw he grabbed the edge of the pod hatch and wrenched it off its hinges, tossing it aside, even as he shoved the barrel of his gun into the pod, finger tightening on the trigger–

"Good Lord!"

Wrex immediately stepped back, lowering his weapon. Dr. Chakwas climbed out of the pod, shaking, but fixing Wrex with a furious glare.

"I thought you were that horrible thing!" she hissed. "Nearly gave me a heart attack! Not that it would have mattered if you had blown my head off."

Wrex glanced down at the oversized combination shotgun-flamethrower, feeling sheepish despite himself. "I knew what I was doin'," he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "Why aren't you in the conference room, anyway?"

"I barely had time to sound the alarm, before that monster climbed up the elevator shaft and started slaughtering people. It seemed more…prudent, to find a hiding spot, rather than be trampled to death on the stairs." Her arms were tightly crossed, and her voice firm, but Wrex could see that the Doc was shaken. Still, he had to give her credit.

"Not a bad call, given the circumstances. Others might've lost their heads." Wrex thought he might have just made a joke; he wasn't certain. The Doc, meanwhile, was glancing over her shoulder.

"I don't know where it went," she said in a whisper. "But it seems to have an affinity for moving through small spaces. Air shafts, things like that. It could be anywhere."

Wrex tapped one foot on the floor. Crawlspaces full of wiring and other technical junk ran beneath the floor paneling. A perfect place to hide…

"Right," he grunted. "I'll get you up to the conference room, where you can sit tight with the others. With any luck we'll find this thing along the way." He began to head down the walkway, but Chakwas had other plans.

"Now just a minute!" she hissed. "You don't seriously intend to take that thing on by yourself, do you?"

Wrex frowned at her (not that any non-krogan could have told the difference). "No offense, Doc, but what the hell good are you?"

Dr. Chakwas slipped in front of him, nearly tripping him up. Rising to her full height, she said, "I may not be a battle-hardened krogan war-lord like yourself, Urdnot Wrex, but I have been in sticky situations before, and I can do my part." She jabbed a finger at him. "_You_ don't even know what you're up against."

Wrex opened his mouth to argue, but was suddenly struck by the absurdity of their situation. They were completely exposed and had been talking for far too long. The thing was probably watching them right now. He raised his weapon. "Fine, Doc, you can stick around. But stay behind me, and do everything I tell you to."

Chakwas seemed content with that, or as content as anyone in such a situation could be. She stuck close to Wrex's back as they made their way through the deck, Wrex sweeping his gun around, keeping one eye on the motion tracker. As they went, he couldn't help but feel that he had just gotten some bait for this hunt.

_**Sub-Level 2, USS Sulaco**_

Kaidan couldn't help but think of the Labyrinth. As he and Garrus followed the Commander through narrow corridors, over shaky catwalks, and down never-ending stairs, all in near-complete darkness, he was reminded forcibly of that vast maze of ancient legend. More to the point, he was reminded of the monster said to lurk in the maze, waiting to devour all who became lost. The Minotaur. Except the Labyrinth had held only one monster.

_I'll take the Minotaur, please._

If he were honest with himself, Kaidan couldn't think of a more desperate situation, in his own experience or otherwise. He didn't really want to broach the subject with the Commander, but they had nothing to go on. Kaidan knew it, Garrus knew it, and the Commander _had_ to know it. If he didn't, then they were in more trouble than Kaidan originally thought, because a Commander who doesn't recognize the reality of a situation is not fit to command anything.

Shepard insisted they had a plan, however shaky. They knew that the aliens of the _Sulaco_ did not show up on any bio-scanners; only movement gave away their presence. Not good in combat situations, but it might work to their advantage when looking for Liara. As far as they knew, she was the only thing down here that would show up on scanners.

_If she's alive,_ Kaidan mentally amended. As much as he hated the thought, it was a real possibility. And even if she was alive, their omnitools' built-in scanners had ranges much smaller than those of the _Normandy_, meaning they might have to search every inch of the ship. And they only had one working omnitool, Shepard's, which was still acting wonky from their swim earlier. And how did they even know the Sub-Levels were a good place to start…?

Doubts piled upon worries whirled through Kaidan's head, and all it amounted to was growing frustration. It swelled like a bubble, and before he knew it, the bubble burst.

"Commander, you're compromised."

They came to a dead halt. Shepard, at the head of the group, slowly turned to face Kaidan. Garrus seemed to be trying to blend in with the corridor wall.

"Come again, Lieutenant?" Shepard spoke calmly, but Kaidan had been chewed out enough times to sense a coming storm. Still, he had never been one to back down from his opinions…

He took a deep breath. "Look. I want to find Liara as much as you, or anybody. But…the fact is, _we don't know what the hell we're doing._ Garrus and I both know it. But either you don't see it, or you refuse to."

Garrus, half hidden in the shadows, mumbled something about not getting involved. Shepard had now fixed Kaidan with an icy stare, but he pushed on.

"Look, Commander, your emotions are messing with your training. You're putting all of our lives at risk on little more than a whim." He paused, then said, "We're chasing shadows when we could be back on the _Normandy_, helping in whatever the hell is going on there."

Shepard remained silent. For a moment Kaidan thought he would explode and start shouting, maybe even hit him, but then he said softly, "Chasing shadows. If that's what you think this is, fine." He looked from Kaidan to Garrus, and back again. "I don't pretend to have all the answers. From this point on, anyone who doesn't want to follow me doesn't have to. You're free to go back. But I won't."

And that was that. Without another word Shepard turned and continued down the corridor, his light growing smaller as he went. Kaidan and Garrus glanced at each other. Then they hurried to catch up.

Shepard knew Kaidan was right, of course. What they were doing was reckless and damn near suicidal. Calling off the search would be the best decision. But he didn't care; this had never been a military operation, and it was even less of one now. So he pressed on, following his heart instead of his head.

Not that he was ignoring his instincts. Ever since they had emerged from the elevator into the Sub-Levels, things had been quiet. Not a single hiss or whip of a tail, and that set off all the warning bells in Shepard's head. Those things had a way of being everywhere, coming out of every nook and cranny; their absence down here only meant that they had a reason to let the intruders pass. Whatever that reason was, Shepard knew it couldn't be good for him and his team.

As they rounded a corner, they came upon evidence of this. Shepard's light illuminated another stair-well, leading down to the lower Sub-Levels. A large 2 was stenciled on the wall, but it was obscured behind some sort of black, shiny resin.

"That doesn't look good," muttered Garrus. Shepard silently agreed, and it only got worse as they descended. The stuff was everywhere, forming strange tubular shapes, until the metal of the ship was lost beneath it. The corridors of Sub-Level 3 seemed less like those of a ship, and more like arteries of some strange leviathan. Rib-like formations covered the walls, with tendrils spread across the floor, creating all sorts of new and irregular hidey-holes that the three of them had to keep an eye on. Worst of all, or at least in Shepard's silent opinion, was the fact that the resin seemed to be _sweating_. It was certainly damp, and the air had grown much warmer and more humid. It all combined to create a strangely perverse effect, something Shepard couldn't quite put his finger on, but definitely didn't like.

"_Shit!"_

Shepard spun around. Kaidan was aiming up at the ceiling, and Shepard just caught a glimpse of something sleek darting away, into the folds of the resin. Immediately they formed into a tight triangle, all three of them covering every direction.

"One of those things?" Shepard asked, peering down his rifle and into the darkness.

"Yeah," Kaidan said shakily. "But…" For some reason he glanced at Garrus.

The turian looked confused, and slightly offended. "What?"

Before Kaidan could answer, a soft hiss interrupted. They all spun around to see an eyeless face peering at them from a side passage, teeth glinting. Garrus raised his rifle, but Shepard held up an arm.

"Wait!"

Slowly the creature withdrew from view. They could hear more hissing and scuttling, coming from the very walls, but nothing attacked.

"What're they doing?" Garrus muttered, aiming constantly up and down the passage.

"Waiting," Shepard said. What he really wanted to say was, _Herding_, but even he didn't want to hear it aloud. "Come on. If we can avoid a fight, better for us."

"For now," Kaidan added.

It was slow-going and completely nerve-wracking. They moved through the tight spaces in an even tighter group, sometimes in single-file, never lowering their weapons, occasionally catching glimpses of their watchers. And always hearing the hissing, sometimes further down a passage, sometimes much too close for comfort.

Shepard soon lost track of where the ship's corridors ended and the tunnels of the alien hive began. The creatures seemed to have burrowed through walls and floors, making their own connecting passages out of the resin. Tunnels intersected each other, but Shepard knew they were being kept on a set course; any time they tried to take one turn or the other, a sharp hiss burst out of the darkness, and the walls seemed to move. At first Shepard thought it was an uneasy stale-mate, but he soon realized the truth: they were prisoners.

And then, quite suddenly, it seemed, they reached their destination.

The passage was very narrow; they were going in a single line, and Garrus, who had somehow ended up on point, came to an abrupt halt, nearly shouting, "Oh, no, stop, _stop!_"

They stopped, and Shepard soon saw why. The passage opened onto a large chamber, the floor a considerable drop beneath them. And down there, like a revolting corn field, were hundreds of the same leathery egg-things they had found in the cargo bay, half-obscured by a thin layer of mist.

"Oh shit," Kaidan said tonelessly. "It's a nest."

Even as they looked, one of the closer eggs peeled open at the top with a sickening wet sound, and something small and pale crawled out of it. The thing was soon lost among the eggs, scuttling towards them. Shepard didn't know what it was, and he didn't want to find out.

"Garrus!"

The turian opened up, spraying the nest. Eggs burst in sprays of thick, viscous fluid. They heard a squeal that might have been the newborn catching a bullet, but Garrus didn't stop firing, determined to destroy as many eggs as possible. Kaidan loosed a grenade from his belt and flung it into the fray; it detonated with a _whump-thud_, the small fireball lighting up the chamber. Shepard, meanwhile, covered their rear, for dozens of hissing drones had crawled out of cavities as soon as the shooting started, seeming to spawn from the walls; this, apparently, was not part of the plan.

Liara heard the gunfire, and it made her heart leap in a way she never thought possible. _Someone was alive!_ And they had come for her, she knew it. Even as she listened, she could hear shouted commands, voices mixed with the sounds of battle. Shepard had found her, and not a moment too soon. The biotic field she had been maintaining for the past two hours was barely a flicker of energy, and she was definitely feeling the physical strain. Her limbs felt like jelly, and despite the situation, she had come close to dozing off.

But it didn't matter now. _She was saved._ Liara scrambled up the steep passage, ignoring the jolts of pain from her broken leg, digging her fingers into whatever handholds she could find. She pulled herself over the rise and stood, leaning on her one good leg. She was in another large egg chamber– and there, across the room, were three figures positioned in a tunnel, firing in all directions. Liara wanted to call out, and was about to, when she heard her own name.

"_Liara!"_

It was Shepard! She took one step forward, and then the world collapsed.

Despite the madness of battle, Shepard noticed immediately the bio reading his omnitool picked up. It was close, in the very next room, in fact. And he knew, it couldn't be the aliens, the eggs, or those smaller spider-things that came scuttling out of them. It had to be Liara.

He fired at an advancing alien, its skull bursting in a sizzling spray of acid that was just out of range, and then glanced into the chamber. And there, across the field of eggs, was a small figure, barely illuminated by the soft glow of a biotic field.

"_Liara!"_

She heard him, he knew she did. Liara took one step forward, and at the same moment Kaidan tossed another grenade into the center of the room. Liara was well out of harm's way; everything should have been fine. Yet when it exploded, the whole world shook, and a monstrous roar drowned the detonation. Shepard watched, horrified, as a hole opened up in the middle of the room. The floor was collapsing, the hole growing bigger, and suddenly Liara was gone, swallowed up. There was barely time to mourn, however, because suddenly the tunnel they were in shifted, and the chamber wall crumbled, and Garrus, Kaidan, and Shepard were sliding down into the abyss, caught up in a landslide of resin, burst eggs, and a few screeching aliens.


	7. Chapter 7

**7**

**The Hunt, Part 2**

_**The Bridge, SSV Normandy**_

Those unfortunate enough to suffer from Vrolik syndrome were sternly advised to avoid excessive movement or blunt-force trauma whenever possible. In fact, many simply chose to live out their days confined to an eezo-powered zero-G bed, floating weightlessly in one place for the rest of their lives. It minimized the risk of shattered bones, but limited nearly everything else. Confinement to a high-tech mattress was never going to be an option for Joker; he would have gone mad within two days. The path of an Alliance pilot, while posing greater risk, was much more rewarding. He didn't need legs; the _Normandy_ carried him wherever he needed to go. That being said, he did still try to avoid an unnecessarily violent situations when possible. His bones were crap, but he preferred them to not be in pieces.

Something crackled like glass powder as he tried to shift into a more comfortable position. Joker grit his teeth, stifling a grunt. It hurt like hell, but then, the tail on whatever had come rampaging up on the bridge looked like it would hurt a whole lot more. As soon as the alarm had been sounded, he knew he wouldn't make it to the conference room. If that thing didn't kill him first, some idiot panic-stricken engineer would probably elbow him in the ribs and send a bone shard through his heart. So he had done the only thing he could think of: activated the emergency stasis field that blocked the cockpit from the rest of the bridge, and then crawled beneath the ship's control panels. Not very dignified, but he'd take looking like a dumbass over looking like ground beef any day.

"Shit." Joker tried to peer around the pilot's chair, but it was impossible to see anything. The bridge had gone dark a while ago, and the emergency lighting didn't offer much in the way of visibility. Plus everything looked distorted through the stasis field; he just hoped it would hold up against that thing. It had looked huge.

A sudden hiss exploded in his ear. Joker jumped, difficult to do when contorted into something resembling the fetal position. _Crack._ Well, there went a femur. Maybe the intruder would take one look at his shattered body and decide it wasn't even worth the effort to eviscerate him.

"Joker…Joker, are you there?"

It was Tali. Her voice sounded weak and tinny in his ear, and her breathing had become ragged. Joker felt a twinge of guilt; he had completely forgotten about the quarian when the ship erupted into chaos. "I'm here, Tali," he whispered. "How ya holding up?"

"Oh…you know," she said in what was supposed to be a casual tone. "Air supply is running low, but I was meaning to quit the stuff anyway." Joker winced as she devolved into a fit of coughing. _"Keelah._ I really could use some help out here."

"Just hold in there, Tali. If you die I'll be the only one with a sense of humor on this ship. Unless Garrus starts telling jokes, and I don't think anyone wants that." She laughed weakly in his ear as he crawled out from his hiding spot.

_Aaahhh, shit._ It was like trying to fold an eggshell without breaking it. He grabbed one of the armrests on his chair and pulled himself up, while keeping an eye on the stasis field. He couldn't see much of the bridge, but he still didn't like turning his back on it.

"What's happening in there?" Tali asked. "I tried to contact you, but all I heard was…screaming."

"Technical difficulty," Joker said. He eased himself into the chair, sighing with relief as the smart-foam conformed to his body, relieving any pressure points.

"One of those things got on the _Normandy,_ didn't it?"

"Yeah. You should probably stop talking. Preserve air." His hands flew over the controls, and the simple act of doing what he was best at served to calm him. The ship was still locked onto Tali's IFF beacon, but had taken no other actions. Maybe there was something to be said for all the automated protocols the Alliance had installed on the _Normandy._ Joker was starting to regret turning them off.

A low, muffled rumbled vibrated through the hull as the thrusters powered up, pushing the _Normandy_ towards Tali's position.

"Hang on, Tali. We're coming for ya." He just hoped they wouldn't be too late.

His earpiece suddenly crackled again. "Jeff, are you there?" It was Dr. Chakwas.

_**Living Quarters**_

"_Is that you, Doc?"_

Relief flooded through Grace when she heard Jeff's voice. "You're alive. Thank God."

"_Yeah, well, don't thank him just yet. Once this is over you'll have to get out the glue and duct tape."_

"Are you hurt?"

Jeff laughed. _"I think broken is the better term. Had to wedge myself beneath the cockpit controls."_

So he was still at the cockpit. Despite the inherent danger in his situation, Grace took it as good news. She glanced at Wrex, who gave her a quick nod before returning his gaze to the screen on his weapon. They were in the Commander's quarters; after sweeping the second deck and finding nothing, it had seemed a good idea to hole up in a relatively small room and come up with a plan. Which the krogan had.

"Jeff," she said, "I need you to do something for me."

"_If you're gonna ask me to take my meds, I don't think now's the time."_

She ignored him. "I want you to open all the air vents and raise the temperature as high as it will go."

There was a pause. _"Couldn't you just put on a sweater?"_

"Oh, for God's sake, Jeff, we're trying to flush the damn thing out!" As Wrex had observed, and Grace agreed, all creatures have a natural aversion to fire. If this thing was hiding in the walls – which it almost certainly was – then blasting it with hot air just might drive it into the open. Which, despite what her survival instincts told her, was exactly what they wanted.

"_Wait, where are you?"_

"I'm in the Commander's quarters with Wrex."

"_You didn't get to the conference room?"_

"No," Grace said grimly. "There was little time, and besides. I want this bastard out of my home."

Wrex grunted his approval, still watching the sensor. Jeff sighed. _"Can't argue with that. Alright, hang on. I just hope this thing doesn't pop up right next to me."_

There was a clunk, and then the sound of rushing air filled the silence. Almost immediately the temperature began to rise, making Grace sweat in her confining scrubs. She waited, tense, listening for any sign of the creature: a hiss or an awful screech.

"Got it," Wrex muttered. She whirled around and went to his side to examine the sensor. Something was indeed moving, and it was on their level.

"How on earth did we miss it?" Grace whispered. Wrex said nothing, merely cocked the enormous gun and moved towards the door. They could both hear something moving outside, something with heavy footfalls. Then, an irritated hiss.

"_I heard that,"_ Jeff said urgently. _"Please tell me you know where it is!"_

"Right outside," Wrex growled. He motioned for Grace to stand back; she crouched behind the desk, but was sure to keep the door in view. Wrex leveled his gun, and then kicked the door control. It swung smoothly open and he charged outside. Grace cursed and followed after him.

Wrex stood in the hall, body tense in a hunter's stance, sweeping his gun back and forth. She stood behind him, peering into the darkness. There was no sign of their quarry.

"Lost it," Wrex muttered, glancing at the sensor. "Slippery bastard."

"_Uhh, guys? It's…it's up here."_

Grace followed Wrex as he pounded across the deck and upstairs. They came onto the CIC – and there it was, crouched over the galaxy map, now dark.

"My God…" It was bigger than Grace had thought, the size of a bull back on Earth. Yet it was somehow lithe and sleek as well; just by looking at she knew it was fast, might even get to them before Wrex could get off a shot. And it _was_ looking at them, although it had no eyes. Its long tail swayed and curled behind it, thick strands of saliva hanging from its open jaws. And its head…it looked like the faceplate of krogan, but distorted. Stretched back.

Wrex roared and fired, the shots thundering across the deck. At least one found its mark – the creature screeched and some sort of hissing liquid splashed across the floor – before it leapt smoothly aside. It landed heavily on all fours, shaking the floor, and roared back at Wrex.

"_Watch it!"_Jeff shouted in her ear. _"These things bleed acid; it could eat right through the hull!"_

Grace wasn't sure if Wrex heard, but he suddenly holstered the gun on his back and charged at the creature, his roars as loud as its own. They smashed into each other; Grace dodged out of the way as they rolled towards her, a mass of flying fists, whipping tails, and scratching claws.

"_Doc, up here!"_ She ran for the cockpit as the stasis field disengaged; she couldn't see what was happening, but the sounds of battle raged behind her. She fell into the co-pilot's seat beside Jeff as he brought the field back up.

Through it she could see Wrex fighting the creature. They hurled each other across the bridge and smashed into the walls, sparks flying as consoles were shattered. The creature made quick jabs at the krogan with its tail; he dodged them, then grabbed the tail and jerked. The creature squealed and fell onto its back, and then Wrex fell on top of it. He began driving blow after blow into it, even as it clawed and flailed beneath him.

"We have to help!" Grace shouted. Jeff seemed mesmerized by the fight; he shook his head and quickly turned to the controls.

"Uhh – right! Ok, hang on!" His hands flew across the controls – and suddenly the stasis field flashed. Wrex bounced off it and slumped on the floor. The creature stood at the other end of the bridge. Grace leapt to her feet as it began to charge.

"Wrex, get up!"

The creature was feet away, and suddenly Wrex hurled himself into it. He slammed his head into its own, and she heard a sharp _crack._ The creature hissed as sizzling blood oozed from its shattered skull, but it was by no means finished. It jaws widened, exposing glistening teeth – something long and sharp darted out. Wrex just barely managed to dodge and it bit into the side of his neck. With a roar he grabbed the strange tongue and tore it from the creature's mouth. Acid blood sprayed everywhere, burning the krogan and the floor. He seemed oblivious to the pain, but the floor panels were already beginning to melt.

"We have to get that thing out of here!" Jeff shouted. "Tell Wrex to hold on to something!"

Grace knew what was about to happen. She shouted through the stasis field; whether Wrex heard her was anyone's guess. A klaxon blared and the airlock opened. Jeff struggled to override the _Normandy's_ systems – and suddenly the outer doors opened. The bridge shook as atmosphere was sucked out into the void. Protected behind the stasis barrier, everything seemed oddly peaceful, but Wrex and the creature both braced themselves. A moment later they flew into the airlock, tumbling from view.

_**The Void**_

Tali drifted on the edge of consciousness. She had long since stopped noticing all the warnings her suit was flashing at her. Air was critically low – she doubted if she would last another ten minutes. A terrible chill had begun to creep into her suit, biting down to her bones. She hoped she would slip into hypothermia before she suffocated.

Something twinkled at the edge of her vision. Lights. Apparently her last wish was not to be fulfilled; her oxygen-starved brain was misfiring, causing hallucinations. The lights grew brighter, a shimmering blue. Completely silent, of course. The only sound was her own slow, rough breath.

She wished she could see the Flotilla again. She had never regretted staying on the _Normandy;_ it was as much her home as the ship she grew up on. But the Flotilla was different. Her family was there, her father. It was where her entire people lived. That was worth something, at least.

She also wished Sheperd was here. Well, not _here._ Then he'd be dead too. But…with her. Somehow.

The blue lights glared across her face plate, and suddenly the _Normandy_ swooped into view, gliding silently beside her. Tali's heart leapt; if this was an hallucination it was a very cruel one.

The ship fired reverse thrusters, completely devoid of sound, and came to a stop. She could see the airlock, mere yards from her. She thrashed, desperately trying to propel herself towards it. But there was nothing to push against, nothing but her floating in the emptiness. She would just have to wait. Hopefully not for too long.

The outer hatch slid open – and suddenly something flew out, ejected like excess waste. At first she couldn't tell what it was: it was a large mass of something, sleek black and red, writhing as it spun in space. It was headed straight for her. Her eyes widened – it was Wrex, and he was fighting one of those monsters!

Silently they battled, trading blows that sent them spinning. Tali knew the monsters could survive in space – that was how they got onto the turian frigate – but she couldn't imagine how the krogan was still fighting. He pummeled the monster's skull, and she saw his fist sink deep into it. The monster went slack as floating globules of liquid issued from the wound. Wrex freed his hand from its skull and kicked its corpse away. It spun into the void.

The krogan floated towards her, and soon they were close enough to touch. She saw his eyes were closed, but he reached and grabbed her with one massive hand – the other found the gun on his back and shoved it at her. She knew what to do: facing away from the _Normandy_ she fired the gun, pulling the trigger until it was empty. The shots made no sound, but she felt them propelling her and Wrex back towards the ship. It didn't feel as though they were moving fast enough, and she soon lost consciousness.

_**Deep within the USS Sulaco**_

Shepard's entire body hurt. Every move sent a jolt of pain lancing through him. Worse, he was completely blind. Oppressive darkness pushed against his eyes, and everywhere he looked, he saw nothing. He heard nothing, only the sounds of settling rubble. Slowly he sat up, brushing chunks of resin from him. His hands scrabbled in the darkness – his rifle was nowhere to be found.

His omnitool was no longer working. He stood shakily and listened for movement, yet it sounded like everything was moving. Debris settling, or so he hoped.

Something grabbed him from behind. He whirled, ready to claw the thing to death if he had to – but a soft blue light suddenly illuminated Liara. She stood on one leg; the other looked horrible broken. Her suit was torn and her face was cut. But she was alive.

They embraced simultaneously, both wincing. "I knew you'd find me," Liara said hoarsely.

"I just thought of how angry you'd be if I didn't," he muttered. Incredibly, she laughed.

"Where are we?" Shepard looked around. The biotic light offered some visibility, but it was little help. All he could see was more of the twisting resin and darkness beyond.

"I don't know," Liara said hopelessly. "Deeper into the ship."

They began to search the rubble, moving slowly. Liara didn't leave Shepard's side, providing light. Beneath some chunks of resin they found Garrus, dazed but unharmed. "Good to see you in one piece," he told Liara.

They also found the bodies of dead aliens, their skulls crushed, some of them half-disappeared into holes eaten by their own blood.

But there was no sign of Kaidan.


End file.
